


Falling For You

by MoonlightFairy



Series: Everything's better on ice [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: (when will I write functional tags lol), ADHD!Hyunjin, Angst, Childhood Friends, Felix isn't in this, Fluff, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I think/hope?, It just works out ok, Minho thinks Jisung is an angel and I AGREE, also, autistic!Jisung, autistic!Minho, because I like self projecting fight me, because there's not enough of them, but like it isn't too bad?, but there's a reason, cough cough there will be a sequel, figure skating AU, lowkey school au as well I guess, so so so so sooooo much fluff, there's like 2, trust me - Freeform, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 06:14:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 49,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16634522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlightFairy/pseuds/MoonlightFairy
Summary: Who said there's anything wrong with taking the expression "falling in love" just a bit literally?





	1. In The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative title: Minho is so fucking whipped lmao and your not favourite author is finally functional and writing better than that one other fic I wrote years back lol  
> But legit, I planned this mess out in such detail, there's like 5+ sequels waiting to be written I Am: Invested in this AU so like please hang around lads
> 
> Sign language is in italics and speech marks - don't get confused by like normal italic writing in descriptions of things. (There's only so many types of text formatting I can use sorry)

For as long as Minho Lee could remember he had been skating. After all, his mother was a figure skating coach and although she wouldn't ever force him into anything she was rather in love with the idea of her only child following in her footsteps. So it wasn't exactly odd for him to be spinning around and, let's be honest, just generally being an idiot on the ice while she taught a beginner's class that he found well and truly boring.

It was the school holidays (finally) so the rink was running the usual courses they always run for grades 1 and 2. Despite having only just turned 8, Minho was already way past this stage to the point of being some sort of tall elegant god to the little ones putting on skates for the very first time - or at least he thought so. In reality he was merely a couple of years older than the majority of the others and able to keep himself upright; to be fair, keeping yourself upright on ice is harder than you would think.

But either way he was at least a bit ahead of the class and not happy to have to be there. There wasn't much else he could be doing though as he was much too young to be left alone, his mum was literally working right in front of him, and there was no school (and childcare is expensive and was not an option at all). So to say he was excited and enjoying life whilst watching his mum teach would be a big lie.

Approximately five minutes later he would regret his ungratefulness in regards to an activity he considered boring, as the interesting thing that happened next was so very much worse. He was just spinning in peace when... **Crash** a tiny child is lying on top of him where they both fell to the ground in a tangled mess. Not exactly the most fun thing. It was made even less fun when the poor clumsy creature started wailing. Minho very sweetly covered his ears while glaring and grimacing.

"Sungie! Sweetie, it'll be fine, shush hon don't worry," a warm honey-like voice cooed from above the aforementioned tangled mess. The boy, 'sungie', barely even showed that he heard anything, but the woman was unphased by this. She proceeded to pick the boy up as if he didn't have sharp metal blades attached to his feet. This made Minho theorise that she must be some powerful angel and this was confirmed in his mind when he actually bothered to look at the boy because dear lord was he the embodiment of the words sweetheart, precious, adorable... Minho's as-of-yet-not-known-about gay self could make a 100 page list of cute adjectives if only he paid enough attention to school to know enough words.

At this point Minho had definitely taken a liking to the poor boy and his face softened as he got up with the ease of someone who grew up on the rink before gliding over to where the woman had gone off to - the waiting area. Since, they had in fact moved while he was brainstorming endearing words to match quite possibly the cutest cheeks Minho had ever seen on someone.

"Excuse me miss, is he ok?" Minho managed to ask shyly. She jumped a bit at the sudden voice but quickly smiled reassuringly.

"He'll be fine, love. Thanks for asking," she told him, "but shouldn't you get back to your lesson?"

"I'm not part of the lesson, mum is teaching so I have to be here..." he explained. The little boy's face lit up in interest at this new information and he seemed to pay more attention to his surroundings, though he didn't say anything.

"Wow! Hey, Sungie, isn't that interesting?" she asked the boy, clearly also noticing his re-entrance into the real world after crying his eyes out for a good few minutes. After all, beneath everything she was very worried for him.

"Mummy is a good skater too..." the murmured words seemed like magic to Minho's ears when he spoke.

"Yeah, she was really cool coming to rescue us back there!" Minho replied, eager to encourage the younger. After a couple of seconds where he held his breath tensely waiting for a response, worried the mention of the accident could bring back the god awful wailing (he may like the boy but is there a mute button please), he was fortunately rewarded with a wide grin.

Having taken this as a very encouraging sign, Minho went straight to reaching his hands out to drag the boy onto the ice. The woman, now revealed to unsurprisingly be the mother of the little kid - at least from Minho's point of view - looked panicked and then very relieved when the boy accepted the offer to get back on the ice. The lesson was just getting to the end but Minho headed slowly over in his mother's direction, keeping a careful eye on his new friend. The two of them stopped a little bit away from the others to wait for some quiet.

"I forgot to tell you my name, oops! I'm Minho!" he valiantly tried to suck up his own anxiety for the greater good of the awkward silence polluting the air.

"Minnie..." he attempted to repeat, and mayhaps Minho's heart hurt in the best way possible as he nodded happily, patiently waiting for the boy to introduce himself as Minho so desperately wanted a full name to put to the face. "'m Jisung"

And if Minho whispered "cute" under his breath, well he had a point.

While the two of them were talking, without them realising, the lesson had finished up and Minho's mother had turned around to fetch her child. Minho was still holding Jisung's hand delicately and he smiled reassuringly at the smaller boy when he felt the nervousness radiating off of him at the presence of the skating coach who he hadn't really gotten a chance to get to know.

"Hey, Jisung isn't it? Good to see you got back on the ice!" She exclaimed encouragingly, getting a small smile from Jisung although he didn't quite seem to have taken in and understood everything she said. 

"Mum! I was thinking we could show Ji how to skate now since all the scary things are gone now!" Minho gushed; he was extremely proud of his genius idea to help his new friend who he had even created a nickname for without thinking.

"Woah, isn't my precious little Min Minnie a smart one?" The poor boy got his cheeks relentlessly pinched while his mum sarcastically cooed at him. He would have been more annoyed but a glance to his side revealed Jisung trying to hide a grin behind his free hand and soon he gave in and let the sweetest giggle fall past his lips, and who could be mad after _that_? 

"I'm sure he'd be even smarter if he called the others 'children' rather than 'scary things'" Jisung's mother chimed in. The boys didn't notice she had even skated over and both did spectacular bunny hops in surprise at the sudden noise, which naturally ended up with them tangled up on the floor... again. However, this time they were both giggling while hopelessly trying to detangle themselves and stand up again. Quiet sighs of relief seemed to be a real thing that day as the mothers' allowed themselves to join in the laughter while pulling their sons up off the ice. They already knew and accepted that this was going to become a constant in their lives from that point on.

 

* * *

 

 

Minho stayed true to his word and really did teach Jisung how to skate with a  ~~lot~~ bit of help from their mothers and the two grew closer and closer remarkably fast. They and their mothers were both amazed to hear both of the boys are autistic and were ecstatic to meet others in the same situation. The similarities just kept on going from that point. At first communication was a bit hard but within a few months Minho could read Jisung as well as his age and experience in the world so far allowed - it was also helped by the two of them having been so sweet and pure at the time as a hidden message that needed deciphering was a rare and never purposeful occasion.

So when Jisung started at Minho's school a couple of years below him the next school year he told everyone without any doubt that it was "the bestest ever thing to happen so far ever". They hung out every break and lunch time and were _those friends_ that everyone just knew were a pair you didn't separate. They were also the ones you don't mess with since Minho was extremely protective of the younger boy - despite his reputation as a sweet and quiet person, nobody questioned his loyalty to Jisung or doubted that he would do anything for him.

As they grew older the two of them learned to use sign language to communicate more accurately - Jisung found speaking exhausting and hard work, and so did Minho but to a lesser extent, and neither of them were great at processing what others said aloud to them either. There was a brief attempt at using note writing but it was way too much effort even before one considered the quality or lack thereof of their handwriting.

Unfortunately as they got older, so did school. Both socially and in terms of the level of work. Without even realising it, Minho was in year 6 already and everyone was doing entrance exams to all sorts of schools while he sat back and waited for his acceptance into the local state school. God knows he had shot down the idea of doing unnecessary exams as soon as it came up. Jisung planned to do the same in two years and they would be in the same school yet again but the younger was getting increasingly sulky each day and the prospect of his best friend leaving him. Sure, everyone loved him - he was the literal sun in the shape of a squirrel-like human - but nobody could sign fluently enough to comfortably converse with him. Not to mention his processing problems frustrated him to no end when he couldn't even just listen to a classmate in peace without carefully decoding everything they said, which still left annoyingly big gaps of missed words.

" _Min, what am I supposed to do next year?_ " Jisung finally brought up his number one worry to Minho, who was incredibly relieved as he had absolutely no clue how to try and start the conversation himself - Jisung could be stubborn as all hell if he didn't want to talk about an issue to Minho. The 'without you' at the end of the sentence was left unsaid.

" _You'll survive, Ji. Just keep trying hard in class and hang out with the other guys at break - you can play football with them, yeah?_ " Minho signed back as encouragingly as possible. He linked his feet with the younger's as he couldn't exactly give a hug or any other physical comfort while he signed.

" _I'm gonna miss you though..._ " somehow Jisung managed to sign this in a whiny way. His sign language was beautifully expressive once people learned how to read the facial expressions and little details accompanying the literal translations of the words being signed. Like how just now he drew out the gestures just enough for the signs to still be correct but have a different tone to them; plus, he finished it off with puppy dog eyes and an exaggerated pout which said everything by itself.

 " _You're acting as if I'm moving to Mars. We both might as well live at the rink so you'll see me at skating all the time anyway, silly!_ " Minho did his best to come across as reassuring and it seemed to work as it coaxed a smile out of the other boy.

" _Okay, okay! You're right,_ " Jisung conceded and the conversation was dropped in favour of eating brownies that were homemade by Jisung's mother. It's been 3 years and Minho gets more convinced that they're an angel family every day, especially on days with free brownies.

 

* * *

 

Of course that mature and reasonable conversation was completely forgotten on the first day of school the next year when Jisung had to walk in by himself. For the first few weeks the two would dramatically sign and wail about their separation from each other every time they met up at the ice rink or anywhere else. It took 3 days for Minho to stop teasing Jisung and admit that he too missed the younger and felt lonely - he had made a few friends but being used to having such a close friend as Jisung at his side made casual acquaintances, classmates, etc pale in comparison which left him feeling empty. After that revelation the dramatic wailing intensified (none of the regular skaters were phased by this anymore, though the grumpier ones were a little bit annoyed). 

The dramatic wailing gradually decreased after the two boys admitted they were being a bit dramatic and managed to make some new friends, though they were still each other's number one. Minho made a new friend Changbin Seo, who loved snowboarding, which was quite possibly the coolest thing ever to Jisung who was ready to sneak into the older boy's school and steal said new friend, while Jisung reluctantly made friends with Seungmin Kim and Jeongin Yang. He did admit not regretting that decision however and was enjoying being older than someone for once, even if Jeongin wouldn't stop growing and was going to be embarrassingly taller than poor Jisung soon enough.

The year passed much quicker after new people were introduced, as they made everything so much more interesting and soon Jisung was in the same position as Minho had been, thinking about secondary schools. Even if there wasn't much to think about since an army of sharks with legs wouldn't stop him from following in the footsteps of his best friend. Everything was going perfectly, Seungmin and Jeongin were near fluent in sign language at this point, learning extra quick for a very grateful Jisung (he may have cried tears of joy about this when he finally got a moment alone) and school work was not awful.

But then Minho made another friend, a boy in year 7 called Hyunjin Hwang. During particularly bitter moments at the time Jisung would curse him for "even having a pretty name, it's not fair" (despite his initial jealousy he did go on to have a crush on the boy and would be reminded and teased about it for years after by all his and Minho's friends). Looking back on it, they realised that Jisung must have hated Minho babying someone else as Jisung had previously been the only younger friend in the picture which is why he never had a problem with Changbin. But, luckily, the rough feelings didn't last long - after all they were all sweethearts and Minho was ready to turn into a hug monster when Jisung broke down while finally explaining his reason for being upset.

All in all, after everything emotional and angsty was out of the way all the boys ended up hanging out together in a big group (or cult as Minho and Changbin liked to call it, the former because he's Minho what do you expect, and the latter because didn't you know year 8 really is the year of the emo phase) which seemed to be steadily expanding all the time. This proved to be true when a junior ice hockey player a year older than them called Chan from Minho and Jisung's rink was dragged into their mess of a social circle and decided to drag down his friend Woojin from year 10 with him. Thank god the youngest of the lot didn't have phones yet as the nightmare groupchat the older ones had planned could definitely wait another year.

 

* * *

 

 

And time kept flowing like this until suddenly Minho is doing GCSEs and Jisung is somehow a year 9... And both of them simultaneously wish they could go back to being little kids because oh god feelings...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this finally!!! It's a combination of autistic as heck me projecting onto Ji and also my love of figure skating (it's bloody fabulous spinning around on ice ok like yay cool ice tricks and yay stimming!!!)  
> But yeah, I am actually autistic so if you think this portrayal of it is like "um what this isn't like what I've seen" well I'm like very far from the stereotypes and Ji in this kinda acts like me so yeah... It is accurate tho is what I'm saying heh
> 
> Other info before I forget: I'm writing this note quickly without thinking before I even finish the chapter so it might be hella obvious in the end but they're in England (London I guess???) because I understand how it works in this country for schools and skating rink stuff and exams etc etc
> 
> Comments and kudos are very much appreciated!!! I'm gonna try and update this regularly - like every week or two, I'll confirm after a couple more chapters? - so if I'm late just holler in the comments and I'll speed type it (I write this story in my head during media studies lmao so I always have something I just forget to actually type it),,, But yeah pls comment I'm desperate for love and validation lol  
> Also feel free to ask for definitions of any words that are autistic or skating terms or whatever!


	2. 5 am Is Way Too Early For Demonic Music Boxes and Cute Boys

**La la la la la~**

Possibly the most annoying noise ever sounds from the phone to wake the sleeping boy next to it. As awful as the much too sweet and high pitched tune is, it does its job perfectly: a very strong will is required to ignore such a noise, especially when you want to sleep and have the most sensitive ears on the planet like poor Jisung (although Minho may argue that his are about as bad). He reluctantly drags himself out of bed to silence the eerie demonic music box sounds that are currently making his ears ring, running a hand through his messy bed hair.

He continues to run his hand through his hair as he walks over to the bathroom to wash up. Somehow he still manages to be surprised that this could affect his hair negatively and pouts at the ridiculous half of his hair that decided 'you know what, fuck gravity'. Jisung sighs dramatically, and aggressively brushes the offending pieces of hair until they look at least a cute level of messy rather than being akin to a horror movie possession victim. Drastically more dramatic sighs occur as he gets changed into his dance clothes - because yeah, they're nice and comfy (jogging bottoms, a Hufflepuff hoodie and trainers) but it's five in the morning and Jisung is not in the mood for repetitive ballet moves.

On that note, yes, yes it is five in the morning. Way too early if you ask Jisung (or any normal person, honestly it's still dark) so obviously he is not energetic and enthusiastic or at all ready to start the day. He's more in the mood for burrowing under a mountain of blankets because the heating broke and he's tired and nothing seems to be going right these days. However, that is not an option because he has friends waiting for him at the dance studio and he knows from past experience that they will not hesitate to come to his room and physically drag him to practice.

So he eats a quick breakfast, grabs his school bag and dance bag and hops into the car where his mum is waiting for him. The drive to the studio is short and actually on the way to Jisung's school so it's very convenient for early morning training, but even if everything is going as well as possible he would still like to emphasise to everyone that it is still dark outside and not an acceptable time to be awake.

Unfortunately despite his many (so far internal) complaints, he is very much awake. So he gives in and acts it, taking an interest in looking out the window and the familiar but still interesting scenery they drive past. He sees so many old things that have been there since he was a small child, along with new things like the rose bushes in one of the neighbours' front gardens. There are also new roadworks going on round the corner (there always seem to be some but nobody ever sees any workers there) and the street signs are freshly painted - the council decided the whole area could finally get a tiny bit of funding so obviously aesthetics were the main target.

* * *

~Flashback~

" _Sung! Sungie! Ji!!! Look, look here!_ " Minho signed excitedly at the shorter boy timidly following him. 

Jisung tilted his head as if to ask what he was supposed to look at. It was one of those bad days when even signing was a mess and his brain was full of fuzz, the meaning of Minho's hand gestures barely piercing through the dark clouds that crowded his mind. There were more bad days now he was in secondary school. New school, new children, new teachers, new food at lunch. Jisung's personal definition of a mess. Sure he had great friends but that could also be a double-edged sword as he was just so, so exhausted from socialising with them. They weren't too much hassle, but even the best people were too much for Jisung after a while, especially when other things stressed him out first.

Minho however didn't seem to drain Jisung at all. It made sense though, since they were so in tune with each other's emotions and needs in general by this point, 6 or so years after they first became friends at the rink that day. This was proven when he knew just what to do at that particular moment and gently wrapped an arm around Jisung's slightly shaking shoulders and placed a light kiss on his forehead, which Jisung replied to with a kiss to Minho's cheek. This was normal for them since they were so close and both of them were never afraid to admit they loved having a friendship like that (though they did hold back a little bit in school).

" _See the little flowers over there, Ji?_ " Minho elaborated, effortlessly signing around Jisung's tiny form after years of practise. Jisung looked to where Minho was pointing and saw a few pretty little buds that had just started to blossom. It was such a small thing but it became one of Jisung's favourite memories for some reason. Jisung chirped happily which brought a small barely noticeable smile of relief onto Minho's face - he was clearly happy that his best friend wasn't wholly dead inside, his emo phase was supposed to be scheduled for year 8 a.k.a the year after Jisung's current year after all.

" _They don't really suit our shit show of a town, right?_ " Minho continued, which made Jisung giggle and nod in agreement. " _It's our shit show though so I love it._ "

Just a year and a bit later the precious and contrasting little flowers were replaced by large rose bushes that the new owner of the house attached to the garden planted (the house had previously been rundown and empty but someone felt like doing it up as a project and was now looking to rent it out), and while they were pretty he still missed him and Minho's little garden as they liked to call it - it did in fact become somewhere they visited a few times after that day. Eventually they did start spending more time around there again though since the roses were gorgeous and the new owner of the house was very friendly and always willing to let them add flowers around the place.

* * *

He, yet again, sighs, though more quietly this time. He hates how things changed. Okay, he loves the rose bushes, but the whole growing older and all the changes that come along with it in terms of school he could definitely do without. Back then the worst change was Minho moving schools but now there's always something going wrong. Cover teachers in this lesson, a surprise room change in the next, some guest speaker messing up everyone's schedules some afternoon... The list seems endless. And god knows Jisung is not dealing with it well. Change never was his thing.

Luckily his mad friendship group has settled (well as much as they can when they're so chaotic) and they all get along amazingly. Chan is in his first year of college and Woojin is in year 13 but they still remember to constantly check in on 'their babies' as they love to call the rest of the group, especially the younger ones who aren't even doing GCSE work yet which includes Jisung. They have a terrifying group chat that shares way too many similarities with the definition of a cult - yes, Minho, Jisung and Hyunjin did look this up once while bored at the rink and informed an alarmed and highly concerned Chan when he got a break from ice hockey practise - and never seems to shut up and Jisung loves it (cool non verbal communication that nobody questions is a blessing).

So, yep, okay, not everything is going wrong. Like, he only evacuated one science classroom so far this term! A big achievement for Jisung!!! Certain people were more appalled by this so called achievement but oh well... Anyways, back on track, he may have been being dramatic but to be fair things aren't 100% great, they just aren't 100% awful either. He would say that some aspects were truly hell though. Especially in terms of crushes...

  


* * *

  


Before too much thought can be given to the subject Jisung's mum is pulling into the car park outside the dance studio and parking the car. It's a pretty small studio but it's well maintained and professional looking and the small car park matches it perfectly, somehow just having this dignified way about it that one wouldn't expect from something like a car park. Jisung has been dancing here for a few years now, ballet with a bit of contemporary. It's to help him with skating though; while he doesn't mind dance and does in fact enjoy being there with his friends despite the early wake ups, he has no interest in pursuing it past using it as one of the more interesting aspects of his training regime. It's familiar though and as much as the lot of them whine and moan and groan all the time about it being 'ass o'clock in the morning oh my lord' it's like another home for Jisung (and he's pretty sure the others feel the same) - the rink is 1st, then his and Minho's houses, then their shared flower garden, then the dance studio; for someone who hates change and new things he has to admit he goes to a whole load of places.

Jisung gets about a minute of peace to get out and grab his bag before Minho and Hyunjin spot him as he walks to the entrance where they're waiting (they can't pounce on him as extremely if they wait inside, so who cares about the cold). It takes even less time for Jisung and Minho to be a tangle of limbs on the floor due to Minho leaping onto the younger and smaller boy. Nobody is particularly phased by this. After all it has been going on for 8 years now.

Jisung gets momentarily lost in thought at the fact that he really has known Minho for over half his life now - honestly, he can barely recall much from before that day since he was so young so Minho really always does seem to be there for every part of his life.

" _What you thinking about, Ji?_ " Minho signs after detangling them just enough for functional communication, but still leaving their legs entangled. And Jisung prays to every higher being he doesn't even believe in that the cold can stop the blush from appearing across his cheeks because despite this being normal to them as children, he now has a 16 year old Minho practically in his lap. And 16 year old Minho might as well be a higher being himself in Jisung's opinion.

" _Oh, you know, just about how much of a dumbass you are!_ " Jisung signs back, because obviously when suffering due to cute boys the best route to go down is insults, before pushing himself off the ground and sprinting inside to their dance room, hurriedly waving behind him to his mum. Minho leaps up and chases him as soon as he realises what was said, while Hyunjin skips along a bit slower, giggling.

Soon enough they reach a dead-end and Minho catches Jisung, pinning him to the floor and tickling him until he begs for mercy through the giggles. Surprisingly he actually says it out loud, though to be fair it is very hard to sign while being tickled. Plus it's not much of a difficult sentence: "Min~ noooooo!!!! Jinnie help!!!"

" _Ok I've been friends with you for 3 years and I don't think I've ever properly heard you speak before?_ " Hyunjin questions, not helping in any way, but fortunately for Jisung the vicious tickle monster gets bored. Jisung chirps at the question and tilts his head. " _I mean like yeah I knew you could but I never heard proper words like that from you and I'm guessing the others might have since Minho isn't surprised but I don't know-_ "

" _Jinnie... You're rambling, like it's cute but it is also early as shit and I cannot brain work things._ " Minho signs eloquently, making the other two laugh and Hyunjin sign a quick 'oops' in reply.

" _But yeah, speaking is a bitc- a bit tricky god Minnie I'm not a kid, anyways, speaking and listening are hard and maybe that sounded good to you? But it had no hard letters and the giggling concealed all mistakes, yeah I know I would be a fuc- fabulous spy._ " Jisung explains, pouting and glaring every time Minho interrupts him to tap his hands when he starts to sign a swear word. Minho nods along, already familiar with the explanation, while Hyunjin makes a little noise of understanding.

" _Similar for me but I speak for echolalia sometimes I guess..._ " Minho is suddenly very interested in his shoes after signing about his personal situation. Jisung plays with Minho's fingers quietly with a small smile to let him know everything's fine.

" _Oh okay cool... Wow, how have we never brought this up before? Not gonna lie I wanna hear your vocal stims, they're probably cute as fu- what am I supposed to do there's no sign for h-e-c-k?_ " Hyunjin gushes, moving his hands around in the different gestures excitedly until he struggles at the end avoiding swear words (and the fists of the hissing Minho who is trying to stop the swear words) and has to fingerspell the word 'heck'. Jisung cackles in the background, knowing the pain of trying to be PG.

" _One, yes it is cute- I mean uhhhh okay I give up yes cute is the word... and two, Min you literally swore a minute ago?_ " Jisung points out, a mischievous grin taking over his innocent squirrel-like features. Exposing Minho's failure as a responsible older student and role model distracts said cute boy from lingering on the first sentence. However, Hyunjin obviously picks up on it as he smirks and winks at Jisung while Minho gets up to greet their dance teacher who is just arriving. Oh he is gonna be hell for Jisung later during their time away from Minho.

  


* * *

  


As usual they start by warming up, something you either love or hate. Jisung loves bouncing around and stretching for some reason, while Minho doesn't mind it but tends to get distracted and start messing around easily; Hyunjin is, according to their long suffering dance coach (and all coaches they have to be honest), a 'lost cause' when it comes to paying attention during the warm up. Sure his attention span is non-existent at times due to his ADHD, but it's mostly just because he doesn't like it - nobody outside of Minho and Jisung (who can relate) seems to want to listen to his explanations though. 

So, given those facts, the start of practise of any sort is always a mess. However, this morning it is actually somewhat organised. Jisung just knows Hyunjin has some sort of evil plan because in all the years he's known and trained with his two favourite skaters they have never been this uncharacteristically far from chaotic. He can't for the life of him figure it out though and he knows he won't get a reasonable truthful answer if he asks so he just pays attention to the teacher's instructions as best as he can and continues stretching peacefully.

Only a few minutes later he regrets not running for his life at the mere idea of Hyunjin having any sort of plan, especially given the suspicious smirks and winks from earlier. This trail of thought is running through his head as he tries to survive a horrible hellish situation that nothing could ever prepare him for. Here he is, a poor sweet innocent boy who did not ask for this ever and definitely not at this ungodly hour of the morning, sitting opposite Minho Lee and leaning forwards between his legs for pairs stretches. Which Hyunjin suggested they do together obviously. Even though both of them are very much flexible enough to hold a straddle without someone's feet braced against theirs. Sure, it's an innocent stretch, a normal warm up, an essential element of flexibility training. But if you couldn't tell Jisung is oh so bitter about his friend, no scratch that, Satan's plans because dear lord Minho's thighs are unfair and too close and he does not need to get closer. Absolutely not.

"Sung-sung~ _we know you're flexible as hell, and you always give me shit for my lazy stretching, so shouldn't you be going lower?_ " If looks could kill, Hyunjin Hwang would be dead. He really will be dead when Jisung gets him alone next. 

Jisung swishes his hair out of his face and scowls at the slightly older male before leaning down fully and chanting 'don't look, don't look' while dutifully doing his stretches, because well you can imagine the horrendous positions they end up in during partner stretching given their level of flexibility after years of dancing and skating. Honestly, it's not unusual for people to assume things when they see it without context, it's just that bad. So yeah, Jisung is ready to bitch-slap Hyunjin the next chance he gets.

Soon enough it's Minho's turn to do the stretches Jisung was just doing (while Hyunjin happily stretches alone across the room, cheshire cat grin now a constant on his face as he witnesses the awkward and flustered atmosphere between the two). Minho appears to be way more put together than poor panicked Jisung and has no trouble going into the stretches fluidly each time - after all, why would he have a problem, Jisung is probably the only one in that room internally screaming about cute boys especially one cute boy in particular who is very close oh god-

"You good, Ji?" Minho lets go of Jisung's hands to sign. Oh, did he forget to mention they had to hold hands for it. Hold. Hands. 'Hyunjin fucking Hwang must be having the time of his life' Jisung thinks. Jisung nods enthusiastically after a second and pushes himself up off of the floor to walk over to the ballet bars for more, thankfully not in partners this time, stretching.

  


* * *

  


"So, Sungshine, _you sure you're good?_ " Hyunjin asks suddenly, startling the poor boy. Honestly Jisung is so ready to start a campaign to 'save a traumatised Jisung near you! Every 5 seconds somewhere in the world a Jisung Han becomes a victim - donate money and new friends ASAP to help'.

Inconveniently Jisung is standing with his leg up behind his head in a scorpion when he is startled so his fall is particularly messy. The glares are intense. If it hasn't yet been made clear Jisung is a) clumsy and b) a massive scaredy cat - once Minho waved at him and the motion started him so much he fell on his face yet again. He will argue until he dies that Hyunjin is worse in terms of forgetfulness and clumsiness however, as the other boy has a talent for not remembering to remove his plastic skate guards before going on the ice - you definitely don't need to be a skater yourself to imagine the situation and work out how that ends.

" _Do you just enjoy my pain?_ " the poor heap of squirrel on the dance studio floor signs. Nobody has to look to know the classic pout and puppy dog eyes are very much so present.

"Mayhaps." Hyunjin says. It always confuses outsiders who are trying to figure out the pattern to which words they speak and which words they sign.

" _The fact that me and Ji can understand that of all words when it's spoken out loud has to say something about us as people..._ " Minho moves his hands so prettily (ok so Jisung is whipped as all hell, sue him) that Jisung almost doesn't catch what he signs.

" _True that._ " Jisung loves making it his mission to see how far he can push sign language to sound like memes given that he can't just invent new words. Having said that, the whole group do have their own made up words in sign language which helped when some of them were still learning it, but obviously outside of the friendship group random people who know sign language won't understand these made up gestures.

" _I swear that is absolutely not a phrase in BSL._ " Hyunjin points out. And, well, technically it isn't one you'd be taught but Jisung prides himself on his ability to mess with the fragile grammatical structure of BSL and that wasn't even a hard sentence - he just put the signs for 'true' and 'that' in an order that would confuse many people who aren't used to his ridiculous ways of signing: although he's very fluent, his energetic and creative ways create a very large wall in the path of 'using sign language grammatically correctly and properly' so nobody ever lets him teach anyone else too much.

"Mayhaps" Jisung parrots back at Hyunjin, grinning cheekily at him and dodging the light hit that comes from the taller boy.

" _When I told you I'm all for echolalia I did not mean use my own words against me like this, Han! I hope you step on 5 legos._ " Hyunjin signs in a jokingly angry way, a hilarious affronted look taking over his delicate features. His nose is scrunched up and his lips are pouting a bit but his eyes give away his amusement.

" _Harsh much..._ " Jisung hisses along with his signing like a pissed off cat. His face matches Hyunjin's now but in his own way - narrowed eyes (he's always told his eyes are really expressive and the first thing everyone looks to when trying to read him, which is interesting since he hates eye contact with his whole existence), scrunched up nose, puffed out cheeks and slightly open mouth as if he's in shock.

" _6._ " There is a dramatic silence for a moment.

" _Now that's too far..._ " Minho gasps in horror.

" _I hope you step on 7 legos, Minho Lee!_ " Hyunjin signs with a grin on his face. Why must he test people like this?

" _Fucking fight me, bitch!_ " Minho moves to push himself up off of the floor where he was sitting next to a fallen over Jisung previously (despite the jokes he was a bit worried and Jisung noticed him subtly checking for injuries or a panic attack or anything else about to happen) and he stalks over threateningly to Hyunjin.

" _Language, Minnie_ " Jisung interrupts, making a noise between a chirp and a squeak in amusement.

"Cute..." Minho mutters. Jisung tilts his head in confusion. Him? Cute? Well sure he's cute like a puppy but Minho Lee is _cute_ cute. The older boys cheeks are flushed light pink over his natural beautiful tan skin due to the blood pumping round his body as he exercises, which only makes him cuter. Jisung Han feels both incredibly lucky to be able to see the older on a daily basis and be able to hug him, have cuddle time in the winter under the fluffiest blankets available and kiss him on the cheek, while also feeling like he's gonna die after bursting from all the love he holds in his tiny body for his best friend.

He must have had highly obvious heart eyes as he thought all of that since Hyunjin cackles madly like the witch he is at him - one benefit of not really speaking is that he at least doesn't tend to accidentally say his thoughts out loud (and it's kinda hard to accidentally sign anything functional) or else he would be really be screwed right now. Jisung shrugs it off, finally going back to doing a lovely scorpion in front of the mirror and then going through the rest of the stretches and exercises he needs to do. They only have half an hour until they need to get changed and walk over to the school so he wants to make the most of it even if the other two feel like messing around. He's almost tempted to make a dramatic sign language monologue (it's so much better than a spoken monologue even from someone who is good at drama and speaking for whatever reason?) about how mature he is and how he's growing up, but that would ruin the focus he wants to brag about in the first place. 

  


* * *

  


Amazingly, or not so amazingly if you really think about it since they're idiots sure but they're dedicated idiots, the three of them finish up training on a good, productive note and say bye to their teacher before heading to the locker room to change into school uniform. Jisung quickly takes off his hoodie and leggings, rolling them up and placing them in his dance bag and exchanging them for his uniform. He then starts getting dressed and pulls on his school trousers over his thin and, much to his annoyance, short legs. When he goes to put on his shirt however, he can't seem to find it. Which naturally leaves him bewildered and shirtless. As usual, this is very, very far from being the weirdest thing that has happened to him or any of them even.

" _Minnie, have you seen my shirt?_ " he asks the boy changing next to him.

" _Sung, you could be a bit more subtle than walking up to Min shirtless when you want to-_ " Hyunjin starts but doesn't get to finish as he has a very pissed Jisung out to get him now.

" _8 legos, Hwang._ " If one could spit words out when signing, then that would be how Jisung would have delivered those words. Minho, now just watching only slightly bewildered, never thought it possible until that moment for sign language - especially from Jisung - to contain such venom and seem to radiate danger and threats. Because obviously stepping on legos really is a truly awful ordeal that one does not just wish upon another person lightly, you know.

Hyunjin runs to hide behind Minho who's face just absolutely screams 'I don't want to be part of this' as a scowling, glaring Jisung stalks over to him menacingly. Black smoke seems to curl around in the air, flowing from the messy locks of bleached blonde hair that fan across Jisung's forehead, as he looks up at Hyunjin. Sure, you might think having to tilt one's head up so far to glare at the ridiculous giraffe of a teenager that Hyunjin's considerable height makes him would take away some of the fear factor, but while Jisung is positively tiny (and often the sweetest fluffiest sun(g)shine) he, especially at this moment in time, looks ready for murder.

Luckily for Jisung's poor victim - is he really a victim when he provoked the younger - Minho finds the pissed off boy's shirt and tosses at him, quickly signing something about needing to get ready and leave before they end up late for school. Jisung sighs and gives in and Minho kisses his forehead, getting rid of most of any genuine upset and anger that might linger. Hyunjin smartly leaves it and finishes getting dressed and double checking he didn't leave anything behind.

Despite the previous tension, the walk to school is comfortable enough. Nothing more can happen in regards to arguing anyway as it is much harder than you'd think to sign while walking, especially when you add crossing roads and keeping an eye out for things and people you might bump into. They still somewhat communicate though since at this point they're very familiar with each other's actions, facial expressions, chirping noise, etc.

Jisung skips along slightly in front of the other two, stopping every so often to play with the fallen leaves scattered all over the pavement as far as the eye can see. A cold breeze whistles past and he flaps his hands slightly to try and warm them up - he didn't think to grab some gloves out of his skating bag earlier that morning unfortunately. However, he does come up with a better solution and immediately puts it into action without even a second of hesitation. Jisung turns round and skips back to Minho, grabbing the older's hand and dragging him forwards. Minho lets out a long suffering sigh before joining Jisung in skipping along the path enthusiastically while Hyunjin strolls behind them, smiling at their behaviour.

They reach school rather quickly despite the regular pauses to look at flowers and kick leaves around. As they enter the school grounds the youngest two of the trio wave goodbye to Minho as he turns off to head to his own classroom - even if he didn't need to go study whenever possible for his upcoming mocks it's bitter cold outside at this time of the year, midway into November, so nobody in their right mind would stay outside when they have no need to anyway. 

* * *

~Flashback~

Halloween that year was great... Kind of. The whole lot of their chaotic group finally dressed up like the devils/cult that they appear to be at times. If Jisung hadn't realised he has a big fat crush on Minho Lee (there, he admitted it) by then, well he would have at that point. Because honestly how could he have prepared himself for Minho wearing, wait for it, a crop top. If even the thought of that doesn't give you your gay awakening, you are clearly not gay at all. Okay, Jisung may have been a bit biased but still. The outfit as a whole made it worse but Jisung had been expecting the rest of it since they'd agreed to be matching 'Halloween Hoes' in ripped jeans and fishnets. 

Jisung himself was wearing an oversized dark blue sweater over white ripped jeans with pink fishnets, plus his favourite combat boots. Oh and obviously a cute monster hat that had pom poms and ribbons. So yeah, he was more cute than sexy but honestly nobody expected anything different from the only-just-14-year-old. Minho, however, had a dark red crop top that showed off tanned and toned stomach way too much for Jisung's heart, which matched the red fishnets under his black jeans. So yeah, Jisung was blushing like crazy the moment he opened the front door of his house since Minho was picking him up to take him over to Changbin's massive house a while away from the rougher area where Minho and Jisung lived.

" _You not cold in that?_ " he had asked curiously.

" _Oh yeah, very._ " Minho replied, shivering. So Jisung just laughed and fetched his leather jacket from the kitchen for Minho because he apparently hates himself and wants himself to suffer through the outfit getting worse.

After they had thrown on their jackets (or, well, Jisung's jackets) sensibly since it was getting very cold outside these days, they headed over to the nearest bus station. By the time they had walked over, the sky had already darkened considerably and the temperature had dropped, making them very glad for their decision to at least bring the jackets even if their knees and thighs were cold in the ripped jeans. Once on the bus it wasn't a whole lot warmer but they were at least away from the harsh, howling wind. Jisung was still bouncing his knees from cold though so Minho bumped his thighs against Jisung's while he fished in his backpack for the blanket he had brought with him. The two boys were able to comfortably curl up under it due to its size and didn't have to worry about falling asleep since it was still too early to be tired even when they were in such a comfortable position. Jisung had never dealt too well with harsh winds, in relation to both the bitter cold and the loud noises - the moment it started full on howling and wailing he was a mess (when he calmed down Minho liked to joke that he shouldn't be so scared since it sounds just like Jisung did when the two first met).

The bus ride remained peaceful and was not too long a journey, so they were at Changbin's in no time. Honestly even after knowing him for a few years now, the two boys who were not exactly swimming in money always looked at the house with a slight awe for as long as they could without getting caught, because honestly it's always awkward to explain that kind of thing.

Chan opened the door for them, at this point it was not at all uncommon for them to act like each other's houses were their own and/or just nominate someone to do certain chores/tasks regardless of who should have been doing them based on whose house it was. Though some of them did subtly avoid parts of this, namely Minho and Jisung who are pretty comfortable in the bigger houses but have no wish to act like they're full on home to them. Nobody really minds that anyway as long as they don't completely skip cleaning up, cooking, etc anyways.

"Hey, you guys look good," Chan greeted them, Aussie accent still present in his voice from when he lived over there. Jisung painstakingly took his eyes off of the silver charms dangling from Minho's necklace, the metal was glinting just right underneath the hallway lighting. But he really did need to lipread a bit and pay attention when his friend was speaking aloud so he reluctantly dragged his eyes over. Minho of course noticed and suppressed a giggle as he had been doing something similar with Jisung's matching necklace - they had got them years ago. They did pay enough attention though and the evening carried on happily.

A few hours later and Jisung was hidden under a blanket on Minho's lap because someone suggested horror movies. Minho wasn't really enjoying it either so he was the tiniest bit glad for the excuse to leave to one of the spare bedrooms with Jisung since 'it's getting late anyway', though he was a bit worried about the younger boy. He had seemed to calm down after getting away from the situation however, luckily.

" _You okay, doll?_ " Minho questioned, running his fingers through Jisung's fluffy blonde hair that tickled his collarbone as the smaller boy leaned into him. He got a nod that was still slightly shaky but appeared to be honest in reply so he went back to being silent and, having already changed into sleeping clothes earlier, the two of them fell asleep curled up. They had always shared a bed since they were little so although Jisung might have still been a little flustered had he been more than a quarter awake, it wasn't a big deal, it was just normal for them.

* * *

Jisung's first few couple of classes of the day fly past in the usual boring way. He gets a bit of work done and luckily this week is mostly just revision lessons which require little to no effort from him. At break he sits at the benches their cult commandeered back when Minho was in year 8, and zones out whilst the others chat about things, not picking up on much even when he tries so it's easier for him to just give up. Minho isn't present, presumably because his last class was media studies so he most likely has some type of creative task or an essay to finish over break time.

Hyunjin notices Jisung being incredibly withdrawn, even more so than he usually is when everyone is present - it can get overwhelming for him at the best of times especially when he has to actually communicate with multiple people. He gives the slightly younger boy a, for once in his life, subtle wink. Nobody else really notices but it's just a way of saying 'so lunch inside, just us?'. The others are used to that happening so they shouldn't worry too much about the pair when they don't show up to lunch.

Jisung will later somewhat regret forgetting his note to self from earlier to not spend time alone with Hyunjin. The taller boy is leaning across the table, resting his head on his hands and staring intently at Jisung, who is draped across the table with his hair fanning out in all directions and his eyes closed. Hyunjin kindly allows him some peace and quiet for a while, because come on the poor boy has just had some hard and stressful classes, before giving him a gentle nudge to the shoulder (at this point he could honestly write an essay about the difference between tapping and nudging someone to get their attention as both Jisung and Minho have a tendency to startle at sudden contact) to regain his attention. He doesn't start speaking until the younger has turned his head a little bit and has his doe eyes fixated on Hyunjin's hands.

" _So, you and Minho?_ " Hyunjin smirks. Jisung immediately hisses at him and pulls his coat over his head. A somewhat impossible situation for Hyunjin as he can't sign when Jisung isn't looking and he can't just make Jisung look at him if he's genuinely upset and/or stressed. Eventually the blonde burrows out of his little coat nest again, though he is biting at the sleeves of his jumper nervously which makes Hyunjin feel a bit guilty.

" _I just- he's always been there? And I mean he's obviously cute and nice and talented and smart so I mean how could I not love him..._ " Jisung signs a bit tentatively. Hyunjin moves round to sit next to Jisung and gathers the younger up in his arms. He at least doesn't seem to want to cry and he flops into Hyunjin's arms and lap with no complaints because sure Minho is his favourite human pillow but Hyunjin's height and general cuddly ways make him a very close second.

" _Hey, remember when you had a crush on me?_ " Hyunjin asks later.

" _I thought we agreed to never mention that again!_ " Jisung manages to do his classic whiny signing with a pronounced pout, before screaming into his hands in a ridiculously calm manner.

" _Well, I was just wondering because you've always been so close with Minho so when did you start liking him like that?_ " Hyunjin explains a bit more, making Jisung withdraw the hands and feet ready to attack him.

" _I mean I guess it was always set up to happen? But it became a thing that I noticed like a few months ago._ " Jisung admits after doing that one sigh he does when he's building up the nerve to admit something.

" _Anything happen to prompt the realisation?_ " Jisung suspects Hyunjin is having way too much fun quizzing him but he knows the older boy is also genuinely interested in his friend's life in a supportive way and not just for the gossip. Of course when Jisung nods, Hyunjin squeals and insists he tell the story.

* * *

~Flashback~

It was the start of the ice skating season and Minho was competing in his first competition for the season. So obviously Jisung went along to watch and support his best friend. He had seen bits and pieces of the routine during practise but had not yet had an opportunity to watch both Minho's short program and free skate that had been choreographed for the upcoming year.

Even after knowing and skating with Minho for years, Jisung still got surprised at just how natural, elegant and graceful the older boy could be on the ice. Sure he had caught up quickly and had his own strong points but he always felt like Minho towered over him the moment they put their skates on. After Hyunjin moved to their rink the two often joked about this together and Jisung was happy to know it wasn't just him. It seemed to reach a whole new level however, when Minho was all dressed up and in the zone at competitions. Jisung never knew competitiveness could be so beautiful to him when he himself was, outside of his specific anxiety issues, actually a rather chilled out person. He had been competitive at one point but he soon found out that being quietly determined and just trying his best for himself was the best way forwards for anyone, but especially himself.

Jisung held his breath as Minho entered the rink to start his free skate. Unfortunately the younger boy had his own training to go to so he missed the short program but he made sure to send plenty of encouraging messages complete with ridiculous selfies of him and occasionally one of their other friends from the rink like Hyunjin and Chan (the ice hockey memes about Chan that they created back when Minho first learnt how to use Photoshop in media studies were so worth the effort to find in the mess that is his camera roll). The messages seemed to have worked however since Minho was currently in first place. Jisung was still nervous for him though, almost not enjoying the performance because he was so jittery.

He did enjoy it though because god, it was Minho, and even if at that point in the day he was still a couple of minutes away from realising just how much he cared about the other skater, even a stranger or just a friend with no romantic feelings towards Minho could still definitely appreciate the level of beauty, creativity and strength that was Minho Lee, the junior skater who skated as if he owned the ice of every rink he visited. Honestly Jisung really should have known he was head over heels (unfortunately rather literally a lot of the time) in love with Minho.

He did however realise when Minho finished and skated over to the edge where Jisung was waiting for him. He was sweating and out of breath and his hair was messed up but in that moment Jisung realised just how gorgeous the other truly was. Due to his strong aversion to eye contact, Jisung had never really lingered on Minho's eyes long enough to really think about and appreciate them but for a moment while the older boy wasn't looking back at him, he took a glance and was stunned that he had never noticed how pretty the other boy's eyes were. The irises were gorgeous and warm and just screamed 'home' to Jisung but the delicate eyelashes and dark eyeliner that was carefully smudged the tiniest bit, clearly purposefully, brought out a more pretty side to them. He quickly looked away, his heart beating a bit too fast but he could always pretend it was from being jittery while watching the skating.

Jisung's heart really suffered however when Minho brought his hand out from behind his back - honestly, Jisung hadn't even noticed it was there since he was so preoccupied with staring at Minho's face - and held a rose out to Jisung, probably one he picked up off of the rink from the many that the audience threw down. And if Jisung blushed majorly while shyly saying thanks then who can blame him, like have you seen Minho? (As Jisung tells this to Hyunjin, he interrupts saying 'you're so god damn whipped and biased oh my lord, Sungshine') Minho just grinned as if he wasn't tearing people's hearts to bits with his smile that was quite possibly the purest thing on Earth. And Jisung was so, so gone for him from that moment on.

* * *

" _Wow you fell hard..._ " Hyunjin remarks.

" _Yeah. Kinda funny since I literally met him by falling into him very painfully,_ " Jisung jokes, smiling at the memory of even tinier him crashing into Minho.

" _You never told me this detail? I mean I know you guys end up in a tangled mess on the floor 99.8% of the time but I didn't know it happened right from the beginning!_ " They both laugh at that.

" _Yeah, he glared so hard at me when it happened because I cried too loud but just a few minutes later he was hugging me and holding my hand as he taught me the basics of skating._ " Jisung can honestly go on forever about Minho, especially the cute and funny memories from before all the rest of their friends ~~cult~~ joined them. Hyunjin squeals loudly at this and continues to babble all sorts of cute words to describe his 'new favourite ship' until the bell rings for their afternoon lessons. Hyunjin walks Jisung to his lesson and then heads off to his own after promising to interrogate him more in the future and also agreeing to obviously keep it a secret from Minho and the others if possible, not that he would've gone off gossiping about it anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!!! I'm so determined to be reasonably on schedule for this story heh
> 
> I decided that I'm gonna switch between POVs for this story because I kinda did that in the mess of a first chapter/intro/prologue and I can't turn back now - plus I love Minnie and Sungie so much I can't decide who to write about more anyways. At this point I'm not 100% sure how many chapters at a time will be in each POV but it'll probably start off just switching between and then follow the plot so hopefully not too confusing. It's (for now) just 3rd person anyway so it works I think? Feel free to offer constructive criticism on this and other grammar things tho! Help is always great lol
> 
> Also sometimes they speak parts of a sentence and sign the rest like saying someone's name out loud to get their attention then signing the rest of what they need to say, so hopefully the placement of italics made that clear?
> 
>  
> 
> In terms of things you might not get cos figure skating things or British things or autism things etc etc:
> 
> College - normally from age 16-18 (so not the same as university here) and is instead of sixth form which is years 12 and 13 of school, very fab place, it's free yay  
> GCSEs - god knows what is stands for but they're state exams you do in year 11 (age 15/16) and prepare for partly in year 9 but mostly year 10 (and the start of year 11 cos the exams are in spring/summer), most people do uhhhhh 10? I think... I swear I'm British! My GCSEs are just very weird personally. But yeah the standard way is maths, english, science, one language, one humanity, RS, and two options of your choice like media and art.  
> Year 9 - the fun year, teachers try and tell you "you're about to start GCSEs you need to get serious", you do not... well not that much (I messed up year 9 a bit oof don't listen to me) but yeah it's age 13/14, the science evacuation joke was a real thing I did in year 9 so,,,  
> Echolalia - autism thing, basically repeating words/phrases or uhh quoting things? idk if that explains it well but yeah it can be used for communication or just because it's fun   
> Stimming - if you want a big explanation google is your best friend, but basically autism thing again where autistic people do some sort of repetitive behaviour (like echolalia or rocking back and forth or drumming fingers on the table), it helps with anxiety and stress and stuff plus it's just really great and fun, also can be cute? Like when someone gets excited and claps their hands and chirps that's cute ok (totally not saying that because that's what I do hahaha...); vocal stims would be chirping, echolalia etc  
> BSL - British Sign Language, there are loads of types of sign language (may reference them in other chapters) like ASL, KSL, ISL, so BSL is obviously the one used in England where this story is set 
> 
> As always comments and kudos are very much appreciated and feel free to ask me any questions you have down in the comments ^_^


	3. Minho, Your Obsession With Christmas Songs and Santa Paws is Getting Out of Hand

Minho is - always has been, always will be - a very unique person. He never seems to be majorly interested in having much of a reputation or being the most popular, he's very content with the people he is close to while not being too opposed to making more friends; funnily enough this did in fact make him very popular as believe it or not being chilled out and not starting fights is actually the secret key to being loved by everyone. So yeah, this might give someone the impression that he is loud and excitable.

However, he is rather shy - he is pretty much constantly internally screaming when with anyone apart from Jisung. So when he has to wait at the rink alone since Jisung and Hyunjin have to catch up on some work after school, he is not particularly happy or calm. He is in fact very much so panicking while death glaring at anyone who dares to get close to him or his precious skating bag (his school bag is fair game though since his phone and all other valuables are now either in his hands or in the precious, much worshipped skating bag).

He can't even go on the ice yet as the little kids' lesson is just finishing up and then all the cones and skate aids (a.k.a. the adorable penguin things that little kids use - having said that, they are a lot less adorable when you are tasked with trying to skate around their awkward plastic forms during a public skating session). Normally he waits for his own practise time with Jisung and Hyunjin, the three of them doing homework or revision; not that they actually want to, but that's a key part of being allowed to spend every free moment on the ice. He's all ready to go, jet black skates laced tightly, shiny sharp metal blades hidden by his favourite glittery navy skate guards, and he is oh so tired of sitting around.

So yeah, long story short, Minho is anxious and sulking while his mother looks apologetically at him from the middle of a sea of ~~tiny demons~~ children. 'Just a few more minutes... 15... Okay, that's not long, I can do this' he thinks, anxiously nibbling at the long sleeve of his poor dark grey hoodie, which is clearly a regular victim of such treatment if the loose threads and rips are anything to go by - he absolutely won't throw the thing out though, due to a combination of emotional attachment and the fluffy inside of it. When you take part in any winter sport fluff is such an important factor in practically everything suddenly. (Minho even has fluffy skates that only the other skaters out of his friends are aware of and those few people are sworn to secrecy unless they wish a painful death upon themselves...)

Reluctantly, Minho retrieves his math book from his bag. He is considerably less gentle and protective compared to when moving his oh so lovely skating gear, phone and headphones around, however this is rather unsurprising since it _is_ schoolwork. He actually has a test tomorrow and really does need to actually revise - sure there were multiple revision lessons that week in class time but he really cannot follow along with what the teacher is doing on the board and isn't great at organising his own independent work from a textbook either. Executive functioning really is a bitch. There are definitely countless other, including many more technically accurate, ways to phrase that sentence but honestly, it's kinda draining as hell to explain the same repeated phrases about his issues again and again to everyone who wants to know when jokes and swearing are available. (If you were looking for a definition though, he would probably go for 'the part of the brain responsible for planning and organisation - people with executive functioning issues, like him, struggle to plan things out and process complex instructions/tasks as well as often having trouble starting tasks' so yes, a lot to reel off to anyone who wants to know)

 

* * *

 

 

Within the hour, Minho has reached his limit of maths for the day and is overjoyed to see Jisung and Hyunjin skipping in through the main entrance, skate bags in hand, grins on faces. Although he wants to act sulky and pouty, he can't help but mirror their grins. Partly because well come on, they're his friends, partly because he picks up on others' emotions very strongly, but mostly just because he's so relieved he doesn't have to wait around anymore. He was starting to crash and burn underneath all the fuzziness in his head from children shrieking and screaming and parents asking him for directions and advice - curse his fluffy dream of a hoodie for also containing the rink's logo, since y'know his mother has worked there for many, many years now (since she started working after giving up competitive skating when she became pregnant with Minho unexpectedly at 19).

" _We brought you boba tea!_ " Jisung excitedly signs, trying to reign it in just the slightest, given that he is both their skating bags while Hyunjin carries said blessed tea (Minho may or may not have whispered a little 'hallelujah' when he noticed it) and a couple other bags most likely containing food for later during their break. At this point there is definitely no chance of sulkiness from anyone - tea solves everything in England.

" _I love you!_ " Minho signs back, a dramatically emotional expression taking over his features as he pretends to wipe tears while babbling dramatically about being in Heaven. Jisung giggles while Hyunjin sighs, handing over the holy tea before he takes it for himself out of spite. When Minho looks closer, can see Jisung's adorable cheeks are flushed a pretty pink... Probably from the cold. (Hyunjin also notices and has to try extremely hard to hold back a cackle at the youngest's expense)

After drinking their tea - and some more dramatics after Minho proclaims Jisung his soulmate due to the younger getting him his favourite doughnut, because sure skaters eat healthily and all that BS but they never got a chance to properly celebrate his last win so this is a good enough time - the other two lace up their own black fluffy skates. While they once teased Minho for them, after borrowing the older boy's skates on a few occasions they have to admit fluffy skates are the best things ever invented. Minho has no complaints since it helps with the whole sworn to secrecy thing immensely.

The three of them race around the rink doing laps to warm up before doing some stretches off the ice again, remembering when they need to put their skate guards on and take them off again. Minho is just finishing off stretching his right leg elegantly across a ballet bar installed against one of the walls just off to the side of the rink (due to the staff, especially the cleaners, getting tired of them using random railings for stretches, warm ups, and off ice work in general), when Hyunjin declares he's done stretching and is going back to the ice to start skating properly. Minho and Jisung exchange glances and mischievous grins.

" _How much do you bet he's going to walk onto the ice with skate guards on and fall flat on his face?_ " Minho asks his best friend, and often like now accomplice, with an evil smile across his face.

" _I'm poor as fuck so I bet nothing, but yeah he's almost definitely going to..._ " the shorter boy agrees, joining in on the evil smiles. The whole devilish image is ruined a bit (a lot) by the two giggling cutely though.

And, as the two best friends predict, Hyunjin does not pause to remove the deadly plastic from his feet. He gets no warning from his unhelpful friends, both of which are trying desperately not to laugh despite this being a common occurrence, as he takes the first step onto the ice. Less than five seconds later, the tall and pretty skater is lying much less elegantly in a heap on the floor. Frustrated noises can be heard even from the distance Minho is standing at.

"6 days in a row!" Minho shouts oh so encouragingly.

"Legos, Minho Lee, Legos!" Hyunjin shouts back, now sitting down at the edge of the rink (but still on the ice because he's like that) and removing the offending plastic covers from his blades.

"Don't worry, I'll just wear skate guards then the lego can't hurt me..." Minho teases back

"Oi!" Hyunjin shrieks, shooting betrayed looks at both of them, both for not warning him or helping him, and for teasing him and laughing at his plight.

" _You know, we really must go through this a lot, given that I can understand everything you said perfectly..._ " Jisung continues the teasing, ignoring the ever more dramatic glares from Hyunjin, who is now pouting at, well, pretty much everything in sight (the ice is too slippy, the skate guards are evil, and his friends are even more evil).

 

* * *

 

Once the boys get past their regular silly behaviour that happens pretty much every time the three of them are left on the ice together, they start to actually get to work properly. They do all have competitions and other events coming up soon, after all, and therefore each have certain spins and jumps to work on, along with their routines as a whole and general skating exercises. Minho instantly focuses on his own goals and enters his zone as soon as they all separate to different areas of the rink to work independently. This is one of the few things that he can actually plan and put into practise with just a bit of guidance from a coach (normally, his own mum, but Jisung's mother also helps out when she isn't at work elsewhere) during the initial planning stage, and he absolutely loves it.

He also loves the feeling of being active and energetic, but also delicate, elegant and focused while he perfects each and every element of his program. The song he’s skating to this season for his free program is a pretty and sweet sounding, but also bubbly piece of music that he convinced Chan to make for him - the slightly older boy is studying music in college alongside playing ice hockey and occasionally skating with the three figure skaters - and he holds a lot of affection for the delicate notes that he made sure are just right for skating to. It's a reasonably complex routine for a junior skater but Minho is absolutely living for the challenge of the jump and spin combinations he decided on.

As he skates down the long side of the rink he leans forward carefully and brings a leg back into a perfect spiral, one of his favourite moves to do, since it is complex without requiring as many different steps and things to think about at once as a spin or jump. He loves gliding around in spirals and lunges, somewhat zoned out but in a pleasant way. His head fluffy, however not in suffocating manner, rather a floaty type of feeling not dissimilar to what one would imagine hopping across clouds to be like. Losing himself to his more dreamlike and fantastical thoughts is one of the best parts of Minho's day normally, and today is no different - he smiles softly as he imagines being a delicate swan gliding across a lake in the winter, as he lowers down gently into a graceful lunge, arms extended like wings.

Minho doesn't linger too long on the slow and steady movements though, pulling himself up and flexing his back into one last Ina Bauer, before forcing himself to strictly follow his schedule and move on to spins. Not that he hates spins at all in any way, not in the slightest, he actually loves them, but his day up till now has been tiring and he really did need that floaty feeling while gliding around aimlessly, which he obviously now misses. It doesn't take him long to move on and get excited by the thought of sit spins however, as he feels truly alive in the moment, low to the ground and spinning around at a high speed before exiting the spin near perfectly due to being so used to the move by now.

Of course, despite his general grace and elegance on the ice that people admire him for, he does tend to fall over a reasonable amount of times (often in funny ways). Today is no different. Minho gets distracted very easily, and honestly in Minho's defence playing with the rough ripped up pieces of ice at the edge of the rink is so hard to resist! So here he is crouched down, absentmindedly running gloved fingers through the rougher parts and drawing invisible arcs and shapes on the smoother parts of the rink. It's far from a masterpiece but he would like to argue that the materials do not allow for anything beautiful or incredible at least in the conventional sense, thank you very much.

He is startled by a slight noise somewhere in the distance, causing him to lose his balance, and then poor Minho is further surprised by someone suddenly calling his name from above while he pouts at the ice as if it had personally disappointed him, even though the fall wasn't even from the slipperiness of the ice.

"Min! _Hey, I'm finally here to help with that routine for the Christmas fair thing you guys were talking about!_ " The mysterious startling creature is in fact Chan, and Minho can't be too angry (he can be a bit put out, since he really does want people to approach him more carefully but oh well) since they really do need to sort their Christmas routine out. It's currently mid November, so they have a bit over a month, about enough time since they haven't really had a chance to come up with anything aside from abstract concepts.

" _Nice! Want me to grab a pair of the spare figure skates for you?_ " Minho offers after pushing himself up off of the ice gently to stand up straight facing Chan.

" _Yeah, that would be great thanks!_ " Chan replies.

" _No problem. I just have to zoom over to grab my skate guards. While you're waiting I'm sure Sung and Jinnie will come over to attack you with hugs and questionable screeching..."_ Minho explains, before doing as he said and skating across the rink to fetch his skate guards and heading towards the storage rooms and cupboards where they keep equipment and spare gear. He can distantly make out various somewhat alarming screeches coming from the area where he just left Chan at the mercy of the two youngest skaters.

At their rink they have loads of spare equipment, or at least they do these days, which is always helpful for the more forgetful people and people who live further away or just don’t have time to go grab whatever they’ve left at home. In particular, their spare skates are very much loved by all the more experienced skaters as hire skates just really do not work for advanced technical skating. The original lot of skates actually consist of skates donated by the four boys out of their collection of skates that they grew out of, or aren’t sturdy enough for their current standard of competition but are good enough for lower levels. There are also a considerable amount of skates donated by Hyunjin’s parents - a big reminder of how rich they are, but the others try not to think too much about it.

Minho quickly finds the skates he’s looking for, since the room is actually quite well organised. The skates in question are, in his opinion, not as nice as the figure skater’s own fluffy boots, but they’re functional enough. They’re plain black with all the standard features and strong sky blue laces - a feature they use to tell the rink’s skates apart from other people’s own skates.

 

* * *

 

~Flashback~

 

Threading laces through skates was always something Minho found fun when he got new skates. It took some concentration and effort but it wasn’t actually all that complex, plus it just felt cool to him for whatever reason. Sure, he might be a bit angry if his original laces broke during a lesson, but he never failed to calm down while replacing the damaged ones with new laces that he kept in his skating bag just in case.

That day however was a different story. The rink had finally decided to get the more advanced skates that they had always needed, so that they could lend them out to people who would struggle to perform well in hire skates - sure, it always takes a while to adjust to new skates but functional boots and blades are always better than plastic monsters with a strip of metal below them. It had actually been a plan set into motion when Hyunjin moved over to their rink when he moved houses and schools and ended up being friends with some fellow winter sports enthusiasts in the upper years; now, a year or so after that, his parents kindly donated the money to help with paying for better skates.

Obviously it was a great decision as not only was it practical in the sense of saving Minho’s mother from going back to get his skates when she had to start work but her son had forgotten the vital piece of equipment, but it also gave the rink a great selling point that placed them above other ice rinks in the area. Not that there were all that many ice rinks in London, let alone decent ones with highly qualified instructors.

Anyways, great business idea, you got the point. Minho also got the point, as did Jisung who was currently with him. But the two of them were much less inclined to like the idea after being tasked to thread laces and place tags on all of those new skates to distinguish them from owned skates: a problem that was obviously not a big deal when it came to the distinctively awful dark blue rental objects given to the casual skaters and those who were only just starting.

And it wasn’t just a couple of pairs of skates for absolute emergencies. Nope. It was like a whole library of black and white skates (with the occasional second hand coloured/patterned pair that other people had given them thrown into the mix) just waiting for pretty blue laces and ribbon tags. If Minho were to guess he would probably say there were roughly 30 pairs. It wasn’t a lot of skates to have necessarily, but it was a lot to have to lace up considering it took the boys maybe 10 minutes per skate if they were to be careful and tie the tags on properly as well.

Therefore you really could not blame Minho and Jisung for crashing onto the floor dramatically at the end of the day after the two boys carefully laced up every single skate, tagged the skates up, and matched skate soakers and guards to each pair. The two of them ended up falling asleep on the mats they had been sitting (and laying dramatically) on, and they still have the photos that their mums took when they got back to see their children curled up peacefully, rightfully so after the long day of hard work they had.

 

* * *

 

By the time Minho gets back to the others, he finds a heap of teenage boys, two of which are squealing and giggling while the other begs for help. For once in his life Minho sighs and decides to help someone else (who isn’t Jisung) with their predicament, if only because they kind of really very much so need to get this routine sorted out now.

So he nudges Hyunjin away and pulls up the other boy. Naturally, that other boy is Jisung, not the victim. Because Minho is whipped. Like very, very whipped for his best friend/personal angel. Chan looks at him in a way that is the perfect middle ground between betrayal and ‘disappointed but not surprised’ and helps himself up off of the floor so he can go over to the benches and finally get his skates on. At this point he actually has his own pair out of the spare skates; although they get given to other people too, he always uses the same ones so he doesn’t look like a baby deer or a confused duck while trying to adjust to new skates.

When the four of them are finally ready (Chan had to warm up, and the others were just messing around), they wait in the middle of the ice for their teacher to come along and help them with their routine. That teacher just so happens to be one of Minho’s favourite unofficial coaches…

Jisung’s mum glides over to them with ease, a result of more years of skating than the rest of them have even been alive. She’s met with a chorus of greetings including a hug from Minho who, due to her working a lot, hasn’t had a chance to see his ‘second family’ much.

“Aww, Minnie, did you miss me that much?” She coos over the teenager who can’t even bring himself to be all that embarrassed, given that he is currently receiving one of the best hugs ever (Jisung’s are the best in his opinion though, must be a Han thing). So he just nods and lets out a hum of agreement before moving away again to stand with the others.

“ _Okay, have you got any ideas for what we’re going to do?_ ” She asks. When met with a mix of head shakes and shrugs she just gives her best jokingly disappointed look and opens her choreography notebook up, ready to jot down ideas.

“ _We could re-enact the lego movie!_ ” Hyunjin suggests. Jisung and Minho both grin at the idea while Chan looks perplexed. The three in favour of the ridiculous idea start dramatically acting out random action scenes that are interrupted by them suddenly pretending to step on lego and silently scream in agony every few seconds.

“ _I am honestly so concerned by your obsession with lego, Jin…_ ” Chan signs, looking completely and utterly confused by his friends and their life choices. Jisung’s mum merely gives him an understanding look - she’s known Minho for eight years now and Hyunjin for three, and while she’s used to their questionable behaviour and she does her best to understand her child and his two closest friends, she doesn’t think she’ll ever truly get some of the BS that they come up with.

“ _Alright! Enough! Any serious ideas?_ ” Jisung’s mum finally reels back the attention of the hyperactive teenagers so they can actually get something done in the near future. The mild exasperation shows through her slightly more tense than usual hand gestures.

“ _Just be basic bitches and do a Christmas medley in reindeer antlers._ ” Minho and Jisung suggest at the exact same time, word for word. Minho can’t help but genuinely smile as widely as possible at just the simple thing that is being so in tune with his best friend that they can match their words like that.

“ _Language…_ ” The poor coach chastises the pair of giggling boys lightly, knowing there is no hope for their foul mouths (and hands). Chan and Hyunjin also laugh at them, while being slightly in awe of how in sync the other two skaters are.

“ _Go all the way and wear reindeer onesies!_ ” Hyunjin suddenly suggests excitedly, feeling the need to go even further than just reindeer antlers. Sense of shame who? Don’t know her.

“ _Oh my god yeah! We still have ours from a couple of years ago, right Minnie?_ ” The youngest of the four skaters remembers, shaking Minho’s shoulders excitedly after he finished signing to the taller boy. When Minho confirms that yes, they do have the cutesie reindeer onesies from some previous Christmas event, Jisung signs gibberish (at least to the average person - Minho understands about 70% of it) excitedly with Hyunjin, while also screeching out loud happily.

“ _Yep, I mean I’ll have to dig it out of the closet but it should be there._ ” Minho grins, thinking of the adorable matching costumes they own. Although he tends not to sign in such a ‘loud’ way as Jisung and Hyunjin, tending to be more soft and gentle with his hand movements, he is still quite expressive with the gestures and does have his own distinct facial expressions and ways of moving to display his mood - it is a bit harder to learn to read though, given the subtlety, but anyone who knows him will definitely say it’s worth it (Minho himself will admit that despite his insecurities and worries in relation to some things, he’s quite confident and happy in the way he signs). Right now his eyes are relaxed and he signs a bit faster, but not rushed, and claps his hands in excitement after he finishes his sentence.

“ _Like you…_ ” Hyunjin signs in response to Minho’s close comment through a dramatic fake cough - given that the lot of them love experimenting with sign language and other less common methods of communication, it’s no surprise that they have figured out how to bring the art of fake coughing over insults and teasing into sign language.

“ _Awfully bold of you to assume I was ever in the closet, Hwang._ ” Minho fires back almost instantly, almost seeming angry with the dark glare directed at Hyunjin if it were not for the way the corner of his lips wobbled and curved up slightly into a smile through the scowl on his face as he tries not to laugh.

“ _Ah, of course, no offence meant, good gay sir!_ ” Hyunjin sarcastically apologises, crossing one foot over the other elegantly (and almost tripping over his own skates). He then bows extremely dramatically towards Minho who finally loses it and starts laughing uncontrollably as does Jisung, who is very much so entertained by witnessing the other skaters’ antics.

Chan, on the other hand, tosses his head to the sky dramatically while rolling his eyes, lifting his hands up in a dramatic prayer: “ _Save me, lord._ ”

 

* * *

 

After they finish up with getting the basic ideas out of the way they brainstorm some songs whilst practising different types of spirals - Minho will always swear by spirals being the best move to practise while talking to others, thank you very much, like try and do a sit spin during a conversation (spoiler alert: it doesn’t work).

They just throw around ideas for songs as they skate, at this point quite used to signing while in motion as long as they aren’t doing any complex moves. Minho is actually happy to have a break from the serious stuff, even if it is currently right in the middle of the figure skating season.

“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” Jisung’s mum says aloud while writing down the songs she’ll have to help with choreography for and get onto a CD.

“ _Well yeah, obviously!_ ” Jisung signs from where he’s effortlessly holding himself in a Charlotte spiral, bringing his hands back down to where they’re wrapped around his ankle and other leg in the air 180 degrees like it’s no big deal. While Minho can do the same, and is in fact about to now, he can definitely not take his hands off their position at his ankle to move around and sign like he can during any other type of spiral - like just how?

Minho is generally deemed the best skater out of the three figure skaters (Chan only does it for fun after all, since he has his whole obsession with hockey) technically - and he is also respected for his creativity and flexibility - since he has been skating the longest out of them all after all. However, he always gets stunned when he watches Jisung - the younger just has this aura about him that shines even brighter when you know him personally and practise with him, his bright energy making every jump springier and livelier, and every spin faster. Not to mention, he’s on some sort of journey to ace all sorts of tricks (Minho told him ‘no’ to backflips though, so there are some limits) including communicating with no problem during moves when it should definitely be a problem.

“ _The real question is Jingle Bells or Jingle Bell Rock?_ ” Chan asks, just a tad bit cautiously since he knows oh too well of Minho’s deep rooted obsession with bells. Honestly, bells are brilliant and songs about them are even better - Christmas songs about them? ...The best!

“ _Both, but at different ends of the song lineup so it still works out._ ” Minho answers, thankfully without an over the top rendition of either song if only due to the threatening glares sent his way by the oldest of the teenagers as well as Jisung’s mum who, angel that she is, has just had enough already now that’s it’s approaching her and Jisung’s 8th Christmas with Minho. Granted, he is cute when he sings it, but 37 times a day (exactly) is just too much sometimes… Jisung never seems to mind though and even joins in if nobody else apart from his best friend is listening.

“ _Genius!_ ” Jisung stays true to form and signs the single word excitedly, supporting Minho in his Jingle Bells obsession.

Has Minho mentioned he is so thankful for the younger? Because he really is. Many people assume that Minho just signs for Jisung, and takes care of Jisung like some sort of child. In reality, that’s far from the truth: aside from being immature like your average teenage boy tends to be, Jisung isn’t childlike at all and anyone who knows him knows that while he’s a sweetheart the boy is far from innocent and pure (I mean, come on he’s a teenager); Jisung actually supports Minho a lot though the older often hides it from others; oh and Minho couldn’t live without signing as speaking is a big mess for him, especially if he speaks too much since it drains his energy so much, plus signing is fun sue him.

The four of them spend the next little while focussing on their skating while pondering song choices internally since they can’t, or at least Minho knows he can’t, think of any more songs that will definitely work. He doesn’t particularly mind though since they are working on his favourite moves after all (watch them switch to repeating crossovers again and again to spite him if he says it out loud though). Minho joyfully falls back into the blissful floaty state he was in earlier while practising alone.

“ _What about All I Want For Christmas?_ ” Hyunjin offers finally, getting up easily from where he was doing teapots low to the ground for no apparent reason - everyone else is working on holding spirals since there will be a lot of them in the routines for the fair, making it still impressive while easier to remember all the moves. Minho doesn’t linger on the thought however since he absolutely loves the song that has just been suggested.

“ _Yes! Obviously, it’s iconic. Minho and Jisung can perform a duet to it!_ ” Forget it, Minho hates the song and his friends. Apart from Jisung. Obviously. Oh, and especially Chan, the one who just signed that. Because while he deals with Chan harassing him about his closeness to Jisung, he knows although the younger likes to jokingly glare and scowl he does get a bit frustrated with the teasing at times.

Minho loves the idea of performing with Jisung. It’s not as if it’s anything new after all. They have done tons of galas together over the years. But sometimes he just wants to hang out and do things with his best friend in peace without teasing. If he’s being truly honest he doesn’t know if he does feel anything for the younger skater - it’s been and still is being a hectic season and he’s focussing a lot on his skating, while still studying for his GCSEs which are not even half a year away. That sort of thinking can wait (famous last words).

But, despite all these thoughts - that are most likely also mirrored in Jisung’s brain to some extent - outwardly, he just sighs and agrees as does Jisung. ‘It’ll be fun’ he tells himself over and over again.

“ _White Christmas._ ” Jisung’s mum suggests. It’s her favourite Christmas song but Jisung and Minho never did appreciate it, perhaps due to having to sing it over and over for some Christmas Church service back in primary school. If school events can’t inspire deep hatred for a song, then what can?

“ _Too boring and slow,_ ” Hyunjin complains, clearly agreeing with the other’s high level of hatred.

“ _How about We Wish You a Merry Christmas?_ ” Chan comes up with instead.

“No no no no no...” Minho repeats over and over again, shaking his head quickly and making his hair fluff up and dance around his face across his eyes and forehead. If White Christmas is hated, then this song is despised. He has no problem with the song itself, more that he has heard it way too much… Okay, he can kind of understand the Jingle Bells thing, but at least he sings that well rather than hearing the words ‘we wish you a merry Christmas’ over and over again from singing Christmas decorations that should never have been bought.

(Hyunjin holds back his cooing because no amount of warnings could prepare him for Minho’s rarely heard *natural* speaking voice, aka the softest sweetest thing on the planet and it somehow matches Jisung’s perfectly? Who knows, Hyunjin may be in a bit deep with his shipping…)

“ _Remember when Innie sang it over and over again back when he was in year 4?_ ” Jisung questions Minho. Ah, yes, aside from the singing Christmas decorations repeating the god awful song, there was also a child singing it over and over again.

“ _Unfortunately yes… Wow, that was 5 years ago, can you believe it?_ ” Minho signs in shock, his lips parting a bit and eyes widening and blinking a few times really fast, while his hands stay frozen in their position from the last word - a little habit of his when he’s being quite expressive when signing for whatever reason.

Jisung always likes to joke - although there is a large element of truth to it - that he can read Minho purely based on his blinking by now. It’s funny because while the two of them struggle with social cues and reading others, (y’know classic autism traits here, textbook stuff) they can effortlessly understand each other through things like blinking, different hand motions like hand flapping, and noises like chirping - something that the average person may not even notice in the case of more subtle behaviours like the blinking, and even if people do pick up on it they tend not to understand.

“ _We absolutely have to do Last Christmas!_ ” Jisung insists passionately, before diving into a flying sit spin, leaving no room for objection. A few seconds later when he’s standing up normally again his idea is still rejected though...

“ _Absolutely not! You would be way too dramatic, it is not happening under my watch._ ” Rejection comes in the form of the boy’s mum and the ultimate decision maker of this ~~not so~~ little project (though she doesn’t dare take too much credit in case it crashes and burns).

“ _Us? Dramatic?_ ” Minho questions, doing his very best to plaster a look of innocence and honesty onto his face. He is met with the deadpan stare of a single mother who has had enough of his and Jisung’s shit this Christmas and it’s not even December yet. He backs down quickly.

“What else, then?” Chan leads the conversation on, being the mature, focussed and helpful one as usual.

“ _Alright, okay. Sensible. We get it. What about Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree then?_ ” Minho finally decides on a fun song that he thinks he just might be able to work for actually skating to and not just using the song as background music.

“ _Acceptable, now you just need like 20 more…_ ” Jisung’s mum happily reminds them. They are so going to regret this when they have to skate to everything on the list, despite how fun some of the songs are.

“ _That one song from Santa Paws… I Do Believe,_ ” Minho finally remembers the one song he absolutely needs to skate to.

He’s so in love with the movie Santa Paws, always has been, always will be. Although it is definitely after Lilo and Stitch on his list of favourite movies, as that really does claim the absolute ultimate top spot (how could it not), it is definitely a close second as well as the favourite Christmas movie. Him and Jisung watched it back when they were way way younger and continued to watch it every year (and sometimes just randomly when it wasn’t even Christmas time, much to the dismay of their confused mothers who were often found sweating during the heatwave in July while listening to a talking dog speak about the magic of Christmas) or at least they did until the DVD player at Minho’s broke.

They had also shown Hyunjin the movie at some point before then and he had fallen almost as in love with the movie. The plan for this year is definitely to use Hyunjin’s DVD player to watch it and celebrate Christmas the right way even if they may have to commandeer said DVD player and leave the others to find movies on Netflix.

“ _Woah, never thought the day would come when I call Minho an intellectual!_ ” Hyunjin signs, astonished.

“ _We could even build on some of the choreography from the actual movie!_ ” Jisung adds to the ideas. By this point the three figure skaters are all very hyped up and shrieking with joy while Chan looks on in a state that is best described as confused horror (he somehow avoids the Santa Paws enthusiast screaming circle every year, nobody knows how, but he really should be more used to the nonsense especially since he’s known Minho for years and the skater already had a well known obsession with Stitch).

“ _Fuck yes!_ ” Hyunjin signs, hopping around on the ice with Minho while Jisung spins around excitedly. Jisung’s mother gives him a look for the language, not that she particularly minds especially at their age, but they are supposed to be more polite at the rink since there’s often a lot of members of the public around.

“ _...Heck yay_ ” he corrects himself.

“ _Better, thank you._ ” She comments and they move on with the long process of song selection, while still out on the freezing ice because by this point everyone knows better than to think trying to get the boys to sit still will work.

“ _The biggest most important song is definitely Sleigh Ride though._ ” Minho points out, as if it’s genuinely important information that everyone should know. He could in fact create a whole powerpoint stating that it is, if he had the time or motivation. Either way it is a great song and makes the ever growing list, which means they finally get to go eat since they have also just finished the chilled out skating they were doing while brainstorming.

“ _How do you know so many Christmas songs?_ ” Chan asks Minho curiously, since he seems to suggest almost every song that goes on the list.

“ _Winter is my favourite season and I love Christmas so I guess I just always loved the songs and ended up learning a lot? Plus tons of Christmas fairs._ ” Minho explains. It’s true after all, around now is his favourite time of year. He loves the weather - practically growing up at the rink does make him quite happy in the cold and ice and snow -, Christmas is great, and another big reason: he met Jisung a bit earlier than this time of year and by this point they were proper friends. He’s whipped, alright.

“ _Same here._ ” Jisung agrees on Minho’s answer about Christmas songs.

They really have done a lot of Christmas fairs by now. Minho wouldn’t ever want to not do them though. He loves looking around the stalls with Jisung and getting hot chocolate with marshmallows and skating to Christmas songs before spending the evening curled up under a blanket together tired as hell from all the skating and walking around. So yeah, it’s perfect, he thinks.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Like a week late oof... I was genuinely going to be on time but my laptop felt like crashing whenever I tried to write so I had to sort it out restart it etc etc, I may be able to write another chapter this week to make up for it but no promises since it takes me literal hours to write for this story and I don't know exactly what to write next since I was so focused on getting this chapter finished off.  
> Anyways, I think I explained most of the weird words with like context in the story this time around? If I didn't then feel free to ask in the comments! *hisses* pleaseeee my comments section is so lonely (*cough* so am I *cough*) I'm a special weird nocturnal creature who survives off of affection and validation.


	4. Sometimes Being The 'Responsible' Friend Actually Makes You An A--hole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING (feel free to ignore if you don't need it obviously): I don't think it's like Major (it may or may not get worse in later chapters, being vague because I genuinely haven't written ahead and might see what you guys think first?) but it talks about the beginning/kind of middle of a meltdown, which is kinda like a panic attack especially in terms of triggers, but it includes a few more self destructive behaviours than some panic attacks might - at least for me. It's in the last section of the chapter.  
> Specific triggers (I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to describe them even if I cared about spoilers over y'all not getting upset) would be anxiety, negative/self depricating thoughts (which are a bit present all over the chapter, but nothing intense or suicidal), and a mention of pulling hair/scratching at skin during a meltdown - it's like a sentence only tho.  
> It didn't seem too bad when I read it back, like it only affected me at all cos it's based off of something personal? But yeah if you have to stop reading tell me, and I can send you a brief description, the actual meltdown isn't too relevant to plot tho, just what caused it.  
> Also a bit of a warning for language: there's more swearing here than other chapters, and some words used might be considered worse in other countries, like the c-word, which is considered not too bad when used jokingly with friends at least where I live

“It’s nearly Christmas!” Minho announces cheerfully, throwing his back down onto the questionable picnic bench they choose to have break and lunch at, as well as hang out at in the morning before classes start, like right now.

“Yes…” Changbin replies, at this point having no trust in the words that come out of either the mouth or hand gestures of his fellow (idiotic) year 11.

“ _ Do you know what that means? _ ” Minho questions the group, switching effortlessly to signing now that he has the attention of the others. 

The more enthusiastic few out of his friends start trying to figure out what he could be referring to, partly because they actually care and partly because they just like signing fun Christmas words. Because Christmas words are very fun to sign, especially when it’s actually December and everyone is running around hyper about the holidays and presents and sweets. Minho is in fact regularly teaching sign language as a way to earn a bit of money, and is enjoying teaching the younger children signs like ‘angel’ and ‘reindeer’ (which are actually his favourite words, definitely because he loves Christmas and they have nice gestures as well, and not because they’re very much so connected to Jisung).

“ _ Presents- _ ” Hyunjin suggests excitedly. Minho always gives great presents even though they aren’t necessarily expensive, so the others are always excited for the last day of school when he gives them out.

“ _ Christmas dinner- _ ” Jeongin guesses, being his normal lively self multiplied by 10 at both the thought of food, and the memories of the previous Christmas when they all ate dinner together on Christmas Eve.

 

* * *

 

~Flashback~

 

Every year Minho’s family had always had a little celebration on Christmas Eve, just a more fancy dinner than usual and some Christmas crackers. Nothing major. But is was nice. Since about a year after his and Jisung’s families met Jisung and his mother also joined them. (They also joined for actual Christmas dinner once the boys got older since they had established that they were basically family by that point.) Needless to say, Minho loved it.

That year however, Minho’s new - and very big and somewhat close to a cult - friendship group had properly settled, so Hyunjin’s parents had suggested that everyone and their families spend Christmas Eve at their  massive house. Minho’s parents really would have offered, but they honestly did not have the space for that kind of thing unfortunately. 

Minho and Jisung ended up getting the bus with Minho’s parents and Jisung’s mother as neither of them had a working car at that time. They had to haul a couple of large bags with presents around awkwardly, being careful not to drop any, and they looked interesting to say the least with the reindeer antlers with cute little bells on their heads and glittery blusher they both had on their cheeks. It didn’t matter too much to them though since they were lost in their own world humming along to Christmas songs and playing Cat Condo (cats are the best okay) on Minho’s old and cracked phone - he really did need a new one.

When they arrived at the house everyone simultaneously started to make sure shirts were tucked in, ties were neat and hair was still pretty and in place. Because really, it was just instinct when they saw the tall black gates, perfectly polished, guarding the gorgeous and very large house. Minho went to just put in the code for the gate until his parents looked at him disapprovingly, which resulted in him sighing and pressing the buzzer more politely. Hyunjin’s mother answered, presumably because Hyunjin was upstairs hanging out with any of their friends who had already arrived (the buses were not in their favour but they weren’t rudely late at least).

As soon as they entered the elegant white hallways, they threw off their boots and greeted the adults that were present. They then placed the presents from them and their parents under the genuinely real Christmas tree (it was stunning and Jisung and Minho took at least 10 minutes to just stand there gasping at it and the decorations that adorned it). Once everything was as neatly arranged as they could make it, they intended to go find the other teenagers but after approximately half an hour of staring at the house - which was always amazing but the Christmas decorations just made it so much better, they had to admit they were a bit envious - it was already time for dinner. Not that they could complain though: food is food.

The food was in fact amazing. Minho wasn’t over surprised though since the Hwangs did have an actual chef to cook all their meals for them (and cleaners to do the washing up after, ah the perks of being rich). All of the teenagers even behaved at dinner and made plenty of polite conversation with the adults - while Hyunjin’s parents were very lovely, they were also very posh and spoke like it, unlike Changbin’s parents who were rich but quite casual in their actions. Hyunjin’s parents had clearly planned the evening very carefully as they didn’t allow Christmas crackers at the table, a fair rule as none of the teenagers (or Minho and Jisung’s mums) would hesitate to get overly excited over them and the little toys and jokes inside - Minho had in fact had a ‘fight to the death’ with chopsticks against Jisung the previous Christmas over who got the paper crown from the last cracker.

Later, after everyone had finished and the empty plates were taken away, they were finally allowed to be more excitable. There were no less than 11 fights over Christmas crackers, 7 fights over horrendous puns and jokes, and one extreme race to grab the last slice of yule log (Minho got it and shared it with Jisung, Hyunjin screamed ‘whipped’). Eventually they all settled down enough to move to the living room and open Christmas presents.

Minho and Jisung both ended up getting more blankets including fluffy ones, hooded ones and weighted ones from Hyunjin. They also got a new phone each from Changbin and a variety of cute phone cases from Jeongin. Immediately, they stopped opening other presents to set up the new phones and sort out their contacts, games, social media, etc. They had also thanked the their friends over and over again for such lovely presents that were also quite functional, because while they saw plenty of things like albums and clothes that they would love to receive, and did receive from the others later, there were some things they actually kind of needed that they just didn’t have the money for at times. And it’s not like they could just ask their friends to buy everything for them - unless it was something absolutely necessary, that they would then attempt to pay whoever bought it for them back for.

After everyone had gotten through the large heap of presents from under the tree, they all curled up in either blankets that were presents or just from somewhere in Hyunjin’s house. Hyunjin played the part of a fabulous host and brought out hot chocolate to anyone who wanted it, and tea or other drinks to everyone else. They had calmed down by that point (with the exception of a couple of fights over the best blankets, which Minho and Jisung watched with amusement as they happily took the corner of the comfiest couch and cuddled together under the biggest of the weighted blankets they had been gifted) and simply watched a Christmas movie that Minho wasn’t particularly interested in - there were no subtitles but he and Jisung didn’t say anything because they were tired and it wasn’t their sort of movie anyway.

When it started to get a bit late, Jisung’s mother noticed how exhausted both physically and mentally (social exhaustion is serious and draining, however much the two boys like to ignore it, whether purposely or accidentally, just to go to events like this) and quickly pointed it out to Minho’s parents. The group of them excused themselves and packed up to go back to Minho’s house. Since the boys loved spending Christmas Eve and Christmas itself together so much, the adults decided they might as well just Jisung and his mother sleep over since they would be around the next day anyway. So as soon as they got back and were changed and ready for bed, Jisung snuggled up on Minho’s chest in the older boy’s bed. Minho kissed his friend’s forehead gently and whispered a goodnight into his hair before the two fell asleep quickly, excited for the next morning - they still hadn’t opened their presents from ‘Santa’ or their extended family or each other.

 

* * *

 

“ _ Time to hear about our lord and saviour Daddy Christmas! _ ” Minho finally reveals the answer. The looks on the others’ faces say something along the lines of wishing he didn’t, but he happily ignores that.

“ _ Why did I ever have hope for you? _ ” Changbin questions, before throwing his head into his palms dramatically while sighing. Though he quickly raises his eyes again to keep track of the rapid-fire signing between Minho and the younger boys. 

“ _ Like I know, mate, I don’t even have hope for myself, _ ” Minho points out very helpfully. He then drops his head down to rest on his arms after pulling his coat hood up over his head, curling up happily in the darkness like a cat.

“Family dinner that shit, huh?” Changbin asks out loud, carefully but clearly, as Minho is not exactly cooperating and looking at the sign language (though some people may assume he just uses his processing problems to easily ignore people, he - and Jisung - do in fact just find comfort in burrowing under things which makes communication difficult). He is actually picking up on the slight honesty in the self deprecating jokes from his friend. Even when the two of them are being very subtle they can read each other quite well - not as good as Jisung and Minho, but years of shared classes and hanging out together a lot still help.

“ _ Honestly? No. Me and Ji’s parents are great, you know that, but they did point out I need to get my act together, like fucking hell GCSEs are in like 5 months… _ ” Minho explains tiredly, his hands moving even more gently than usual as he drags out the different gestures he needs for the sentences. He now has his head tilted to the side as a compromise so he can still curl up, but can also actually see.

“ _ How about you focus on the mocks we are just finishing or the mocks we are about to start after the holidays? Like one step at a time always helps _ ,” Jeongin suggests. The younger always seems to be quite mature (also in terms of height, much to Jisung and Changbin’s dismay, though the others love to point out the two are just short) and is great at offering advice. Not that a distressed Minho will actually use the advice though, nor will he even particularly appreciate it even being given in the first place if he’s quite upset, but oh well.

“ _ Firstly, please for the love of god don’t remind me about just how many exams we have. Secondly, nope, I am simply too hopeless and must give up all faith in good results in mocks - I must move onwards and focus on the real thing while screaming intensely! _ ” Minho responds in typical mid-breakdown year 11 GCSE student fashion, ending his sentence by slamming his hands down on the table in frustration. 

After all, the best way to fix any problem is to just scream (externally or internally, your choice) and curl up under the nearest suitable material such as a coat or blanket, preferably in a nice dimly lit corner. Or at least that’s how Minho deals with things. Looking back, maybe just… Don’t do that. 

“ _ 13 days to Christmas and you’re using the Lord’s name in vain _ ” Jeongin signs, throwing his hands up into the air in big gestures. Not that any of them are genuinely that offended by mildly blasphemous comments, more that they like to tease Minho to no end for his foul language.

“ _ Shut up, the only higher being I follow is Daddy Christmas- _ ” Minho starts to go on an overly enthusiastic rant about the weird being mentioned earlier in the conversation. However before he can get too far Changbin smacks his hands away to ‘shut him up’ in a way that works for signing, and somehow manages to sign the equivalent of distressed screaming that can only be matched by Chan’s questionable motherly instincts.

“ _ Stop bringing it up you heathen! _ ”

“ _ Never, I thought you cared about our son Changbin! But no, you only care about the benefits we get that are supposed to be for his missing legs that Jinnie cut off with scissors while making murderous duck noises, _ ” Minho continues once Changbin finishes his sentence, finally able to continue his highly-concerning-to-all-witnesses rant about the thing, or child as Minho likes to call the deformed plastic spider, from before,  “ _ and then you even spend that money on alcohol and cheating on me!” _

_ “We got a divorce a year ago, Lee! _ ” Changbin signs back, the gestures getting more dramatic and jokingly aggressive every second while their audience looks on with a mixture of horror and amusement painting their faces. He is in fact referencing his and Minho’s relationship from the last year that ended on good terms, and has been a joke to the two of them and anyone who isn’t scared of messing with a potentially touchy subject like past relationships (read as: Hyunjin and Jisung).

“ _ Saying my last name as if I would want to be a Seo, when they’re only so-so! _ ” Minho retaliates, struggling to keep in his characteristic laugh that is threatening to spill out of his mouth, and turning it into an over the top scoff instead to maintain the act.

“ _ One more pun and I genuinely will end your life, Minho. _ ” Changbin glares, holding up a tiny plastic door - that appears to be from a dollhouse or something similar - in a vicious way. God only knows where he acquired it.

“ _ Please do. I simply a-door death. _ ” The real test of fluency in sign language is making puns with ease. It takes considerably more effort at times, but if Minho Lee can do anything it is definitely that (and definitely not: maths, watching his language, refraining from violent behaviour). Therefore it takes a moment for the pun to be recognised and his life is spared for another few seconds.

“ _ I won’t hesitate, bitch! _ ” Changbin raises a fluffy Disney princess pen from his sister’s old pencil case aloft. Him and Hyunjin had recently divided up the stationary after giving all the Bambi stuff to Jisung and the Lilo and Stitch toys and blankets to Minho.

“ _ Good, cunt! _ ” There is no hesitation in Minho’s response, featuring the usual oh so poor language.

“Minho, Changbin, detention!” Just their luck to be spotted by one of the teachers who understands British Sign Language relatively well. 

Sometimes the boys, being the idiotic teenagers they are, very intelligently forget about the teachers that occasionally stroll by at break and lunch to make sure nobody is breaking school rules. Said rules definitely include not being allowed to go around calling your mate a cunt for calling you a bitch while threatening you with Disney merchandise and dollhouse pieces.

“ _ Huh, sorry, I didn’t understand you miss, could you uh sign that? _ ” Minho requests politely, turning his head towards her.

“ _ Detention. _ ” She signs back bluntly

“ _ Oh right, thanks- wait noooooo _ ” Minho starts to thank her politely for translating, before processing what she actually said. He flops across the bench with his arms stretched out somewhat like a cat.

“ _ Weren’t your parents just telling you off for your record number of detentions like last night? Mate you are so fucked. _ ” Hyunjin adds on to the distress of poor Minho once he thinks the teacher isn’t watching for their bad language anymore. He was wrong and Minho is finally happy at the world for a brief moment.

“Hyunjin, you can join them too. I seem to remember your good friend Mr.Han will also be there for deliberately giving year 7s the wrong directions. I’ll see you later today from 3-4 pm, thank you boys.” She informs them, finally stalking off to another part of the school included in her patrol to observe and take away students’ freedom.

“Sorry, miss.” They chorus after her retreating back. She stops and gives them a nod before continuing. If this was a movie, there would be dramatic music that stops as she does and then continues… Definitely a comedy movie; that suits them though.

“ _ We are literally such a mess. _ ” Seungmin points out from where him and Jeongin are sat, witnessing the older three’s general dumbassery and just facepalming as if they’re any better.

“ _ Shush you love it. _ ” Hyunjin points out, throwing an arm around the younger boy and shaking his shoulders to piss him off.

“ _ Channie and Wooj won’t though.”  _ Jeongin points out. Unhelpfully.

“Fuuuuck” Jisung, the previously mentioned problematic student who has been busy misdirecting the poor confused youngest members of the school, finally skips up to the table and joins in the conversation at just the right moment.

“ _ Sounds about right! _ ” Minho agrees enthusiastically, leaping up to clap his hands in his best friend’s face as fast as he can. Personal space, who? Don’t know her. Jisung, rather than getting annoyed, joins in on the clapping. The rest of the boys roll their eyes.

“ _ I have legit never heard him speak properly before, and the first thing I hear him say is a swear word? _ ” Changbin has a shocked expression, signing with his jaw dropped. And to think, none of them even take drama GCSE.

“ _ Minnie’s been teaching me new words!”  _ Jisung exclaims, grinning at the intense look of betrayal on Minho’s face. The clapping is no longer going on as the oldest of the group stands in horror at his childhood friend just throwing him in it like this.

“ _ Don’t believe the demon, him and Innie have been swearing since they were like 6, _ ” Minho attempts to argue.

“ _ Don’t say that about my angel baby! Wow, Min, how could you taint the little sweetheart like this? _ ” Hyunjin manages to sign while letting poor Seungmin go and taking Jisung as his new cuddle  ~~hostage~~ buddy. Though Jisung is more than happy to have hugs from any of them, unlike his fellow year 9s.

“ _ He’s my angel, not yours- _ ” Minho blurts out, before realising what he has said. ‘Just laugh’, he tells himself, ‘we can figure this out later ugh fuck feelings’.

“ _ Oh really, Lee? _ ” Changbin clearly does not agree with the ‘figuring things out later’ plan.

“ _ Fuck off, Seo,”  _ is what ends up being eloquently signed by Minho. The two of them would normally grin at this point, but Minho can’t help but feel a bit genuinely annoyed by his classmate. It definitely doesn’t help that he’s already stressed as all hell.

“ _ Ah, friendship- No, don’t you fucking dare, Seungmin, both My Little Pony and Kazoo Kid can go die. I can’t be bothered to think up any other god awful friendship based songs but nothing can be worse than them so fuck it! _ ” Hyunjin tries and fails. Everyone else can’t help but laugh at the irony that is him teasing Minho and Changbin for their amusing love/hate relationship, while Hyunjin and Seungmin are very similar.

“Jesus is my best friend-” Seungmin starts to sing, not even needing 20 seconds to find an exception to Hyunjin’s instructions that’ll still piss him off.

“I fucking hate you.” Hyunjin hisses back in reply.

“ _ Not what you said Valentine’s Day, 2:37 pm and about 19 seconds, 2 years ago, when I was in year 7 and you were in year 8, _ ” Seungmin evilly points out, smirking like some sort of demon, “ _ I remember you gave me such a pretty handmade card! _ ”

“ _ Let’s please never bring up past relationships again, _ ” Changbin suggests, “ _ Or at least none that aren’t like me and Min’s divorce and child custody jokes. _ ”

A faint mutter of something along the lines of ‘don’t forget child support, I’m a broke hoe, Seo’ can be heard from Minho.

“ _ Thank fuck! _ ” Jisung sighs in relief.

“ _ Yours was a hopeless embarrassing crush, doesn’t count. _ ” Hyunjin shoots him down effortlessly, destroying all hope as if his words are a wrecking ball crashing through Jisung’s emotions.

“ _ Fuck you, Jin _ ” 

“ _ Still chasing after me huh? Guess everyone wants some of this- _ ” Hyunjin helpfully elaborates on what the second sentence means my slapping his own ass, much to the annoyance of everyone in the surrounding area.

“ _ I know where you live. _ ” Jisung doesn’t hesitate to threaten his fellow skater, as per usual. They really do need to tone down their violent tendencies.

“ _ Uh, big security gate and scary guard dog... _ ” Hyunjin tries and fails, panicked.

“ _ I know the code and where your spare key is located. Your dog is a teddy bear who loves me. Try again Hwang. _ ” It’s now time for Jisung to turn the tables and destroy all of Hyunjin’s hope. He is very pleased with this development. So is Minho. We love a supportive  ~~boyfriend~~ best friend.

“ _ ‘Angel’ they said. Yeah right. _ ” Hyunjin scoffs.

“ _ Yep, my precious little angel! _ ” Minho steals Jisung back from Hyunjin, before pulling the squirrel-like boy over to the bench to sit on his lap. Jisung is a really tiny and cuddly angel okay, that’s all.

“ _ But- You- Earlier you- What- _ ” Changbin splutters. 

Jeongin and Seungmin are merely silently unimpressed as per usual, while Hyunjin is much too used to this as he would argue the two of them are considerably (perhaps ten, or even a million, times) worse at the rink and during dance practise. Not to mention that Hyunjin also knows about their feelings prior to this moment, so no big revelations are occuring in his mind.

Meanwhile, Jisung happy smiles and giggles while snuggled up on Minho’s lap. He’s been wrapped carefully in a blanket that the older boy finally fished out of his school bag. Jisung definitely looks like the cat that got the cream.

“ _ What’s that, Binnie? _ ” Minho questions.

“ _ See if I ever let you copy my media notes again. _ ” Changbin signs, back to fake glaring.

“ _ Google is my only true friend in this cold, dead world. _ ” Minho deadpans.

“ _ What about me, Minnie? _ ” Jisung briefly un-burrows from the blanket for a brief moment to look up at Minho. And oh wow, his face is close. Like close, close. Minho is very gay for him- wait what? Nope. No. Not happening. ‘Tis merely appreciation for a younger friend’s cute behaviour.

“ _ Soulmate. _ ” While having his internal monologue, it appears all other brain functions of one Minho Lee have ceased, as he signs the word without thinking. Jisung however just giggles and nods happily before flicking the blanket back over his head and snuggling into Minho’s chest.

 

* * *

 

Maths. An atrocious lesson, if you ask Minho. People don’t really ask Minho too much about it anymore though as they’ve made as many adjustments to help him as possible, but he can’t just drop a core subject. Oh, how he wishes to be in college already. Sure the future is scary but it doesn’t include maths - or at least not too much. Like sure he has to take a class in maths and English as part of ‘functional skills’ in college, but it’s a lot more relaxed. At least that’s what Chan tells him, but Chan actually enjoys maths so who knows about the validity of his statements.

Minho is actually early to the lesson though. He doesn’t mind the teacher, in fact she’s absolutely lovely, he just doesn’t get numbers. So he decides he might as well take out his phone for a second to quickly text Chan that none of the figure skaters will be at practise on time due to their detention after school. 

Minho thinks he’s being quite smart here; texting now means that Chan won’t be there really early waiting, which is what would happen if Minho was forced to wait to text him until the moment he gets out the school gate and is allowed to have his phone out again. Needless to say, Minho always forgets to account for Chan’s at time annoying ‘mum friend’ ways. While it can come across endearing, the older boy just needs to chill out and act like a friend, not a parent, at times.

 

*** Private chat with ‘Chan’ ***

 

**Min** : Hey, Channie. I’m gonna be late cos hour long detention, seeya at like 4:30 or 5 ish I guess

 

**Chan** : Again? Seriously?

 

**Min:** It be like that sometimes

 

**Chan:** Minho, I’m trying to be serious here.

**Chan:** What did you even do?

 

**Min:** ooh punctuation,,, scary

**Min:** just got caught swearing by Miss Smith, no big deal mate

**Min:** Changbin’s gonna be there too lmao

 

**Chan:** So Hyunjin and Jisung are waiting for you… or?

 

**Min:** lol no, they’re in detention too

 

**Chan:** Fuck’s sake, can’t you at least be a good role model to them? Like I get you and Changbin like to fuck around but don’t drag Sung into it too.

 

**Min:** you forgot to mention Hyunjin

 

**Chan:** Jin does what he wants, we all know that. Sung loves following you around though, so maybe consider a better path to lead him on next time. I’m done trying to reason with you and Changbin about yourselves, just get off your phone now and think about it.

 

**Min:** sure whatever

 

Minho slams his phone down onto the desk and groans. Taking a glance at the clock and realising how much time has passed, he puts his phone back into his bag and gets his pencil case and maths book out. He was supposed to be finishing off some maths work and homework but instead he just got into an argument over text with Chan. Great.

Minho just stares at the complicated equations that are swimming in front of him. He sighs, and closes the book before shoving it away from him onto the part of the desk that actually belongs to Changbin. Then he just sighs deeply and rests his head on his folded up arms.

A few minutes later, Changbin strolls in and takes a seat next to him. He doesn’t say anything yet, just sets his own stuff down on his desk, making sure it’s clearly separate from Minho’s shoved over book without actually moving the offending collection of paper back to his friend’s part of the table.

“What’s up Min?” Changbin asks carefully, trying his best to keep his voice soft in case Minho’s hearing is bothering him again. However, despite his best efforts, the other boy still flinches at the noise - at this point even breathing is too noisy though, and somehow Changbin gets that and doesn’t stress too much about trying to make his voice even quieter. After all, Minho would understand even less of the words if Changbin speaks any quieter.

“Thought I should text Chan about being late to practise,” Minho explains, slightly muffled since he still has his head in his arms. Changbin winces, having had plenty of lectures from Chan before, which is obvious by the way the messages also mention him. “Obviously me being polite and saying I’ll be late was a bad fucking idea.”

“Ugh you know how he is. He’s just being an ass ‘cause he never really messed around when he was still in school, don’t mind him.” Changbin tries to make Minho feel better about the situation, draping an arm around the boy’s shoulders to try and comfort him. It seems to work a bit at least.

“I know, I know. It’s just maths is kicking my ass and I find this topic shit anyway, but now I can’t fucking read I’m so stressed. Ugh I should have just decided to stand Chan up with no warning, I’m never being a good person again!” Minho complains, his voice becoming weaker at the end despite the humour he tries to mask it with. Changbin just hums knowingly.

By the time this conversation finishes, the bell that officially means the lesson is starting rings loudly above their heads and the rest of their class and the teacher start to filter into the classroom. Minho reluctantly raises his head and Changbin badly tries to hide his alarm at the slight redness of Minho’s eyes. He just shakes his head and arranged his stuff and bit so he can at least try and start the lesson off half right.

To no surprise the lesson goes horribly, but Minho’s absolute saint of a learning support assistant makes all the really important notes for him and sticks in some worksheets and examples so he can try and get some work done at another time. He’ll probably sort it out tomorrow or the day after during his study time (which he gets from not doing a language). He doesn’t miss Changbin explaining to her that Minho is stressed out from other stuff on top of not quite understanding the work, but he’s nowhere near angsty enough to get angry at people for helping him - he’s way past that sort of behaviour at least.

 

* * *

 

Minho is relieved as all hell when the bell finally rings again, signalling the end of the school day since maths was his last lesson. However, it’s short lived once he realises his has a detention to go to. After years of being, well, himself, he’s no stranger to detentions. But although he isn’t normally too stressed about them (though he has been trying really hard and generally at least somewhat succeeding to not get as many these days), the messages from Chan have just screwed up his whole thought process about everything. 

He kind of wants to punch something but he doesn’t want ‘harming school property’ to be added to his list of things he’s done wrong. At least all the bad things he actually has done are just harmless pranks and being caught swearing for the most part. Sure, he’s gotten in a couple of fights and had the odd argument with a teacher, not to mention disrupting classes, but it’s not a common occurrence. It’s especially rare for him to do anything too stupid these days anyway considering he’s in year 11: he’s older now so more mature, plus it’s an important year. Despite what people say he does care about his future, who wouldn’t? But even if he didn’t he wouldn’t majorly disrupt a class and ruin everyone else’s futures. ‘Even if Chan thinks so’ his thoughts add bitterly.

He drags his feet as he heads to Miss Smith’s classroom, his bag slung over one shoulder and his head cast down. He can’t even bring himself to care that his actual appearance definitely doesn’t improve his unwanted image as a troublemaker at this point. He just wants to get this over with.

Minho gives a little nod and small smile to the teacher when she greets him as he enters the room. He’s the first there out of them, which makes sense since his maths classroom isn’t too far away and Changbin had to go grab some stuff from his locker first. He considers taking out his maths book again to try and get some of that catch up work done finally, but he figures it’s probably better to leave it and work on something else. So he takes out his media book to write out some notes he missed instead.

A couple minutes later Jisung shuffles in and throws his bag down at a desk a couple rows behind Minho. Logically, Minho knows that they can’t sit together. It’s detention for god’s sake and they all know there’s only a handful of them that are gonna be there, so they can’t justify sitting right next to each other for any reasons like ‘it’s gonna be crowded eventually so we can’t sit 2 miles apart’. However, Minho is pretty much in meltdown mode (not that he’ll admit it until it is way too late, especially when it’s caused by someone else), so his brain can’t stop thinking ‘he hates you, he’s realising you’re a fuck up and a bad influence and wishes he never became friends with you’.

Once he finishes off doing all the little pieces of work he actually has the books for - because no way can he force himself to ask to use his phone or a computer to look up any other homework or to work on his photoshop work for media studies coursework - he gives in and daydreams. He still annoyingly has like 45 minutes left since he was early. It’s not as if there’s any rules that say he has to do work in detention, but today he is desperate to push his thoughts away as far as possible before they can get too destructive. He at least attempts to think of something positive.

 

* * *

 

~Flashback~

 

The whole ‘Daddy Christmas’ joke had in fact started in maths class a year earlier. The class was being taken by a cover teacher so everyone was being a lot more noisy than usual - not that they were particularly quiet on a good day. Minho’s learning support assistant also wasn’t with him for that class, so there was nobody keeping much of an eye on his behaviour, which allowed him to join in with the messing around.

He was stressed out by life in general that week, and like the whole month to be honest, already so he wouldn’t have gotten anything productive down in his book if he tried. Therefore the idea of being able to mess around without heavy consequences since the whole class was seemed like a dream come true.

It just so happened that it had been Christmas lunch that day at school so they all had stupid paper crowns and plastic toys from the Christmas crackers. Minho and Changbin and a couple of people who sat near them that they got along with well enough had a little collection of plastic frogs and spiders. So naturally they were each claiming one or two each as their adopted children.

“Minho you better pay child support!” Changbin demanded, while he pointed to a broken toy spider that Hyunjin cut the legs off of.

“No way! I’m a broke bitch,” Minho argued, “how about I take the frog and then we both have a child. We can’t both pay.”

“Sure. What are we naming them?” Changbin agreed with the compromise.

“Uhhh how about the spider can be called Daddy Christmas?” Minho suggested after a moment of consideration.

“Literally what the fuck.”

“If you translate the Irish name for Santa literally, it’s Daddy Christmas,” Minho explained.

“Okay. The frog is called… uhhh… Olly.” Changbin decided.

“Cool with me.”

 

When Chan heard about it after, he made sure to give them possibly the longest lecture of their short lives. The being told off for his actions part definitely did not go along well with Minho’s motto of ‘here for a good time, not a long time’ and he made sure to point that out to Chan. Naturally that made the lecture worse and longer. Jisung suggested keeping the snarky comments in his head and then punching a picture of Chan’s face later (Minho didn’t ever get a chance to question if the younger boy was speaking from personal experience, but it worked so he won’t complain).

 

* * *

 

God, Minho just had to think about Chan and lectures didn’t he. He hates his thoughts and brain right now. He kinda hates himself too- ‘Okay nope too much stop it’ he tries to shut his thoughts off. Clearly the world and fate and possibly some sort of higher being in the sky or wherever also hates him as Jeongin walks into the class at that moment.

“Sorry I’m late, miss, I had to talk to another teacher first,” the boy apologises. Miss Smith waves him off and tells him to sit down.

“Just try not to get two detentions per day, Jeongin. We need those house points for our year,” she jokes. Minho almost forgot she’s the younger boy’s head of year. Oh god, that might mean this detention is serious for Jeongin.

Wow. Minho has four younger friends in detention with him. Great role model, he is. Maybe Chan’s right… Especially since two of them are there because of something directly connected to him: Changbin and Hyunjin with the foul language from the jokey argument that morning. God knows his language is the worst of the group, only rivalled by Jisung and Jeongin’s which everyone actually blames on him. So he’s probably the reason why most of them swear more - back when he met Hyunjin the boy was extremely polite just like his lovely picture perfect family and home and oh god Minho has so screwed the younger boy up. Sure, language gets worse with age and Hyunjin is a year 10 now (and it’s been 3 years since Minho met him as literally a scared year 7) but there are loads of year 10s with perfectly nice ways of speaking, right?

Not to mention that Jisung is definitely there because of him. Chan’s anger at the younger following in his and Changbin’s footsteps may not be entirely accurate - Minho hates how Chan and many others act like Jisung is the picture of innocence and that the boy can’t think for himself and just sits there while Minho messes up his life, as if he can’t think for himself and make his own decisions - but giving year 7s wrong directions is definitely a prank he is known for being a part of and he and Changbin were definitely the ones who told Jisung about it in the first place and encouraged him to do it.

(In reality Jisung just found it funny and chose by himself to do it, and the teachers that caught him just sighed and tried and failed not to laugh, before reluctantly giving the lowkey sweetheart of the whole school a detention, because rules are rules.)

But none of the logical thoughts seem to matter to the heavy fog of panic beginning to take over Minho’s brain as the negative thoughts pierce his brain like knives digging into his skull. All his worries seem to be a mix of high pitched wailing whose volume can’t be matched by anything sensible, logic feeling like tiny little hisses and whispers amongst all the screaming inside his head. 

He vaguely feels his eyes and burning with tears and that something sharp is scratching at his skin and pulling at his hair viciously - it takes a moment to register that it’s his own fingers and nails. As his breathing starts to go haywire, plummeting from too fast with the air dragging down his throat and into his chest painfully, to just stopping for what feels like forever before his body realises and then compensates by going back to hyperventilating, somewhere in his mind he thinks, ridiculously calmly given the current circumstances: ‘oh this is a meltdown. A bad one. Great.’ 

He also slightly registers the sound of someone moving and starting to talk to him, and if he were able to focus just the tiniest bit more he would easily recognise the voice as Jisung’s, but the smoke swirling around his brain and his vision doesn’t allow him to process much of anything. Nothing really makes sense other than the sharp uncomfortable voice in his head spitting the only word that he seems to understand at times like this, ‘disappointment’. In the mess of jumbled thoughts he gets the general idea of ‘disappointment’ referring to him, but nothing else is clear at all. Just his luck, huh...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I'm a bit late with this chapter oof, but I found the last angsty parts hard to write because I was in recovery from a real life version of them. Plus I've been busy and tired af.
> 
> Meanings of words:
> 
> Learning Support Assistant (LSA) : members of staff who work with children/teenagers at school and college that have 'special education needs' (SEN) so basically learning difficulties and anxiety etc, like kids with ADHD, Autism and Dyslexia to name a few examples. They basically are there as someone to talk to and they help sort out extra time for exams and stuff like that. For some people (like me yay) they are in some or all lessons with the student to help with note taking or if the person has a panic attack or whatever.  
> Meltdown: word used to describe this thing which is kinda like panic but not really, like it's more emotions than anxiety but there can be both if you're lucky (that was sarcasm), can last quite long, generally pretty shit, basically if you think of fight/flight/freeze responses in Autism you have: meltdown = fight (tho its kinda more just angry/much emotions than literally fight); panic attack or bolting = flight; shutdown = freeze (I'm gonna actually go into this later but it's basically you literally shut down, like bye bye processing, and just zone out, can be on its own or straight after a meltdown)  
> Mocks: mock exams a.k.a pretend exams before the real ones, they're about the same length and difficulty as the real ones unlike usual end of year or end of topic exams, you get them at the end of year 10 and right before and after Christmas in year 11, before the real exam time which is from May-June ish so they're kinda stressful, especially if you get way below your aim/target cos it's like "oh SHIT I have like 3/4 months to fix this grade or I'm screwed"  
> Hope that wasn't too much info heh, I don't think I missed anything? Feel free to ask any questions in the comments ^_^
> 
> p.s. the daddy christmas thing is something me and my ex genuinely did, including arguing over child support and Olly the plastic frog is still in my school bag as I write this.


	5. Cats Are The Best Therapists, Psychology Degrees Are Worthless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> same kinda warning as last chapter, given this is the continuation of the kinda cliffhanger: just general mentions of anxiety and meltdown behaviour which includes some self destructive/self injurious habits, not too intense though I think?? Like it's roughly a step below the last chapter if you get me? Other than that there shouldn't be anything else ^_^

_Jisung was just idly sitting by, getting a bit of catch up work done since he might as well use the time wisely. He had no regrets as the younger students’ faces were hilarious, and they were ones he knew anyway so there were no hard feelings. It was even better that his friends were also in detention since that meant he wouldn’t have to be alone, plus he wouldn’t be the only one late to practice… Which was going to be with Chan, at least that’s what he thought since it’s getting really close to the day of the Christmas fair at the rink when they have to perform, and he didn’t want to be the only one getting a god awful lecture on ‘proper behaviour’ like some sort of Victorian schoolgirl in trouble at boarding school._

_He had managed to get a couple of bits and pieces of notes written up and some worksheets glued into the appropriate exercise books by the time Jeongin arrived. The younger boy startled him a bit by throwing his bag down a bit too hard, but shot him an apologetic smile when he realised. However this did bring Jisung’s attention to the room around him, allowing him to notice how distressed Minho, who was only a couple of meters in front of his desk, was getting…_

 

* * *

 

Jisung doesn’t hesitate to spring up out of his chair to head over to the older boy, who seems to be getting worse way too quickly. It hurts Jisung’s heart to think of his first and bestest ever friend being so upset, whatever it’s about. The older used to be great at talking to Jisung about his problems, or sometimes Hyunjin or Changbin since they were also close - he even opened up to Woojin on occasion since the oldest joined their group of friends since the boy had a very calming nature and gave the best hugs like a giant warm teddy bear.

But recently Minho seems to be bottling up everything. Jisung isn’t angry. Not at all. He’s just worried, sure Changbin is acting similar but he can’t judge that as clearly since they’re not quite as close. In terms of his best friend though, he is very much aware and very much concerned. It hadn’t gotten this far - at least not that he knows about - yet though, but now that Minho looks like he’s starting to have a full on meltdown he definitely has to talk to him, whether it’s later that day or another time. After all, Jisung is definitely not going to push it while the older boy is feeling so fragile.

Jisung would at least like to get some credit in terms of being a responsible student for looking over at the teacher and signing a brief explanation of what’s going on. Mrs Smith, who is in fact a quite understanding and sweet lady despite the fact that she regularly has to tell them off and give out detentions (that is their fault though, to be fair), nods as soon as she gets what Jisung is trying to tell her in as basic sign language as will make sense and allows him to do whatever he needs to.

‘Whatever he needs to’ refers to firstly just approaching Minho, who is at this stage clearly incredibly out of it and most likely going to be hard to get through to. Jisung had absolutely no intentions of backing down though, anyways he’s dealt with this before. It may not be extremely common for it to get really bad, but it also isn’t a once in a lifetime thing for either of them unfortunately. However, that doesn’t make it easy: it’s always nearly impossible to know whether physical contact will make it better or worse, or if he should make his voice loud and clear, or not speak at all. Because every meltdown or panic attack or whatever is different, and you can’t outwardly tell what ‘type’ of meltdown it is in terms of how to help without trial and error and a lot of accidentally making it worse most of the time.

Therefore Jisung goes with the standard way which almost never causes any more upset even if it doesn’t work, and just approaches Minho quietly but still with enough noise not to startle the panicking boy. He gently moves Minho’s pencil case and books out of the way both to declutter the table and as another clear indication of his presence. Then he pulls up a chair for himself and sits a little bit away from Minho. He makes sure not to crowd him but to still be close enough to reach out easily.

“Hiya Minnie,” Jisung starts off with a soft voice. He can suck it up and dedicate some of his daily social energy to speaking aloud until Minho is more ‘awake’ and can hold a conversation in sign language.

He doesn’t get much of a response, but years of experience allow him to observe the slight change in pattern of Minho’s blinking - they both have habits with their eyes when anxious, Minho blinks at the speed of light while Jisung rolls his eyes and lets them go in and out of focus - and although he would love a bigger acknowledgement since that would mean Minho isn’t too bad, he’s glad that he can get anything at all. He’s still worried, but he’s determined to help.

Taking this as a sign to move forward with the memorised plan of action within his head, Jisung leans forward a bit and takes Minho’s hands into his own, uncurling the elder’s fingers to reveal palms stained with blood from digging his nails in. Jisung bites on his lower lip slightly but otherwise hides any other signs that he’s upset and worried, knowing it won’t help. He links their fingers together and keeps talking to Minho.

“Minnie, try and breathe with me, ok? In and out, you’re doing great,” Jisung continues to reassure him, letting his own words flow into slight babbling once Minho has started to breathe a tiny bit steadier. ‘Come on Ji, just a bit more functional speaking and then it’ll be good’ he thinks to himself, pushing himself on and shoving his own worries and emotions to the back of his mind temporarily so he can focus on his friend.

It takes a while, roughly 40 minutes in fact, for Minho to be breathing completely normally and not be doing anything self destructive, or any other sort of typical meltdown behaviour. The long time is partly due to it just having gotten to be quite a high level meltdown, which links to the other reason which is that occasionally Minho would slip back into hyperventilating or banging his head against the desk. That was somewhat due to Jisung sometimes choosing the wrong pathway on his mental map of solutions, but also just because meltdowns are naturally messy things and like to go on for a long time.

Eventually Minho actually shows a proper sign of being back with them by leaning forward to place his forehead against Jisung’s. Jisung gives him a soft smile and squeezes his hands gently. Jisung then maneuvers himself and his chair carefully so he’s next to Minho and can pull the other boy to rest against his chest. He tucks his chin over Minho’s fluffy dark brown hair after giving him a little kiss on the top of his head.

Realising how much time must have passed, Jisung turns his head round to glance at the clock, being mindful to not move too sharply since Minho is cuddled up to him and still rather upset. Being the intellectual he is however, he can’t read what time it says as he doesn’t have glasses on and is pinned underneath a tall (not that tall, just taller than Jisung, it’s not hard) teenager. He can’t complain though, he’s always up for cuddles with his bestie whether either of them are upset or not.

“ _It’s only like twenty past four, don’t worry. Oh and I already called your mum to let her know what’s going on and she said she’ll let Minho’s mum know as well since they’re both at the rink right now,_ ” Changbin informs him, finally approaching the two now that things seem to be calmer. Jisung knows how close him and Minho are so he doesn’t hesitate to send a reassuring smile towards Changbin along with the sigh of relief at his words.

“ _Thanks, are we taking the bus back then? We are definitely not going to the rink like this,_ ” Jisung questions Changbin, ready to drag Minho home if he tries to insist on still skating even in this state. Lectures about how he just hyperventilated for 40 minutes and has little cuts and bruises over his wrists, palms and head are on the tips of both boy’s tongues (and fingertips if they were to sign their ranting), but to their surprise there is no argument from Minho.

“ _My mum is actually picking me up if you want a lift,_ ” Changbin offers. Jisung looks to Minho and they have a little silent exchange before Jisung finally nods.

“ _Sure, you can actually come round if you want? Our parents aren’t going to be home for a while and it’s always great to have a bit of company!_ ” Jisung asks Changbin, glancing over to Minho to double-check it’s definitely okay.

“ _Yeah, that’s fine, it’s a Friday anyway so I don’t have to sort out last minute homework or anything and I can stay as long as you’re happy with,_ ” Changbin agrees, throwing a look over to the teacher (who has obviously abandoned the plan of detention and rules because she is in fact a decent human being, and it’s not as if they had done anything extremely awful to be there anyway). She nods and waves them off, telling them they’re free to go and not to worry about it.

The three of them walk out of the classroom with Jisung holding Minho’s hand. The older boy has it in a death grip after all - not that he wouldn’t let go immediately if Jisung was uncomfortable, just he really needs the anchor of sorts to keep him going right now. Speaking of Minho, from what Jisung can see he is obviously very lightheaded and is walking with wobbly legs like a newborn giraffe. Not surprising given the sort of mess the chemicals in his body must be at the moment from such an up and down, all over the place breathing pattern for that length of time. It’s harmless but the effects will last for a little while: nothing some hot chocolate and blankets can’t fix.

Luckily they don’t have to walk too far to reach Changbin’s car. It’s just down the road from the school gates, with no roads to cross on the way. Which is great because although Jisung refuses to admit it out loud, he is truly terrible at crossing roads that don’t have traffic lights.

“Hey boys,” Changbin’s mother greets them cheerfully, but reasonably quietly, mindful of Jisung and Minho’s sensitive hearing. The three boys all say hi back as they pile into the back seats of the car, Minho in the middle since it may be cramped but it’s the best place for cuddles.

“I’m gonna go round to Minho’s with them, if that’s okay,” Changbin tells him her.

“Sure, darling, are you staying over or…?” She starts the car, pulling out onto the road and heading towards where Minho lives. Changbin tilts his head at Minho and Jisung as a way of asking for permission.

“ _I mean I’m staying there anyway since my mum has a night shift tonight._ ” Jisung unwraps his arms from around Minho to sign his reply, causing Minho to whine into his shoulder.

“I’ll stay then I guess, then I don’t have to arrange to be picked up or get a bus home late at night,” Changbin decides. His mother nods - it’s quite common for them to stay around each other’s houses by this point with Jisung regularly crashing at someone else’s place whenever his mum is away the whole night for work.

 

* * *

 

When they get to Minho’s house all of them thank Changbin’s mother for the lift before they get out of the car. After gracefully tumbling out of the car they walk up the short path to the front door and Jisung fishes out his key - he really does basically live here at this point. He lets them in and immediately heads to the kitchen.

Sure, Jisung isn’t the best cook - spending the odd evening home alone because of his mum’s work and just generally not having a live in chef like Hyunjin taught him to make at least edible things though - but he makes a killer hot chocolate. It doesn’t take long for Jisung to find his way around the familiar cupboards and the fridge to take out what he needs. He makes sure there’s in date milk as well because he isn’t a boiled water drinking heathen and then proceeds to make a hot chocolate for each of them.

Minho is curled up on the couch a few meters away in the living room - the lower floor is open plan, but not too small. Changbin is crouched down setting up the laptop and connecting it to the TV. They may not have a working DVD player but they can use a laptop as one. Innovation.

It doesn’t take long for Jisung to finish up all three drinks, completing them with messy whipped cream and a few marshmallows tossed on top haphazardly.  He brings them in one at a time, nobody needs the added hassle of spilt hot chocolate or even a broken mug. Once all the drinks are carefully set down he quickly makes a little run upstairs to fetch the best blankets from Minho’s room: mostly the ones bought by Hyunjin the previous Christmas, but a few old favourites also make the cut.

Eventually everyone is comfortably snuggled up on the couch. Changbin is in one corner under a pink fluffy hooded blanket with bunny ears and a little fluffy tail. Jisung is in the other corner under his own black hooded blanket that has the cutest softest cat ears and a tail - oh, and he can’t forget about the little paw-like pockets for his hands. Minho lays on his side with his head resting in Jisung’s lap, a weighted blanket with a plush cover around it draped across his tired body. Taking a peek down at him, Jisung can’t help but admire the way Minho’s hair is fluffed up and flowing around his head like a halo. He just has to run his fingers through it, causing Minho to practically purr as his eyes flutter shut in bliss.

They have Lilo and Stitch playing on the TV (via the laptop via the actual DVD) and it’s the best distraction ever. There’s an unspoken agreement that they’ll talk about the meltdown another time, most likely in the morning. Jisung can tell Changbin has a few ideas about what’s going on but it’s not the time nor place to bring it up. They have the whole weekend ahead of them and they can afford to relax for once as long as they aren’t fully putting it off. Minho definitely deserves to relax and have proper recovery time.

About halfway through the movie, Jisung decides to check his phone. Minho is dozing on his lap so he has to be careful but his phone is always on silent (‘yay sensory issues’ he thinks) and his bag is right by his feet for things like this. All it takes is a bit of planning, some flexibility, and coordination he somehow has for things like this but not when it comes to turning around just to smack into a street sign he forgot was there. He has a couple of messages from both his own mum and Minho’s just checking they’re okay, plus a cute picture of the neighbour’s kittens from his mum. Aside from that the cult-like group chat for their large group of friends is loud as ever, as is the maknae line chat. He also has a few private messages. A bit overwhelmed, he just sighs lowly and tries to order them in terms of priority in his mind. Changbin hears him from across the couch and gives him a knowing look with a nod towards his own phone.

 

*** Private chat with ‘Prince Jinnie’ ***

 

 **Prince Jinnie:** Hey, me and Innie just wanted to know if y’all are ok?

 

 **Sungshine:** Yeah, don’t worry.

 **Sungshine:** We’re watching Disney movies, Minnie is sleeping tho :(

 

 **Prince Jinnie:** aww is he doing better?

 

 **Sungshine:** a bit, he’s calmer but he’s so tired :(

 **Sungshine:** me and Binnie are staying over so we’re gonna talk in the morning, might go see the neighbour’s cats afterwards so idk if we’ll be at practise

 

 **Prince Jinnie:** it’s cool, as long as you work hard on Sunday it’ll be good

 **Prince Jinnie:** me and Channie are the ones fucking up the choreo anyway

 

 **Sungshine:** hehe, true, anyways I need to go through messages and then sort out dinner, seeya

 

 **Prince Jinnie:** bye, tell Min I say hi and give him a hug for me

 **Prince Jinnie:** that is if he wants one fjejf you get me just tell him I love him uwu <3

 **Prince Jinnie:** oh and if Chan is spamming you I only just realised I forgot to say we weren’t even going to the rink at all oof sorry

 

 **Sungshine:** yeah I CAN SEE my phone is just fjherjhhrk momma chan be blowing up my messages, but yeah BYE LETS HAVE A JOINT FUNERAL AFTER HE MURDERS US ALL COS OF YOUR ERRORS

 

Jisung definitely doesn’t regret answering the message from Hyunjin (and Jeongin) first. Sure it’s not a super important one but he needs some good old moral support before checking potentially negative messages from certain other people. It especially doesn’t help that Hyunjin also forgot to tell Chan what’s going on. After taking a deep breath and accepting his fate Jisung reluctantly clicks on his chat with Chan. How bad can it be?

 

*** Private chat with ‘Channie’ ***

 

 **Channie:** Yo Sung, you there?

 **Channie:** Jisung. I heard you got detention, what happened?

 **Channie:** Ugh at least you aren’t on your phone in school I guess

 **Channie:** Speak to you later at the rink. We’re going to have a proper talk, alright?

 

‘Great’ Jisung thinks to himself. Chan already seemed annoyed in his earlier messages from during Jisung’s last lessons of the day, god only knows how bad the rest of it’ll be. More deep breaths are taken, making Changbin snap his head over in concern before Jisung waves him away mouthing ‘Chan’s on my case’, before he continues to read the messages.

 

 **Channie:** Sung? Where are you?

 **Channie:** Jisung.

 **Channie:** Your mother told me you’re at home, how come you didn’t tell me you’re skipping?

 

 **Sungie:** oh my god, Chan, sorry, only just got a chance to check my phone

 **Sungie:** something happened (can’t say sorry it’s private) but Jinnie was supposed to let you know

 **Sungie:** he forgot though, we are really sorry ok

 

 **Channie:** Ah ok, you’ll be there tomorrow right?

 

 **Sungie:** ...uhhh sorry no

 **Sungie:** something came up and needs like instant sorting out

 

 **Channie:** ugh ok

 **Channie:** oh yeah, what’d you get detention for?

 

 **Sungie:** jokingly gave wrong directions to some year 7s, so worth

 

 **Channie:** Jisung Han, I swear to god

 

 **Sungie:** oof

 

 **Channie:** Look I get you like to copy Minho’s dumbass ideas, but try and think things through.

 

 **Sungie:** Oh I did think it through… Then decided to do it anyway :) Seeya around Chan, idk when heh but yeah byeeee

 

Jisung turns his phone off without seeing whatever Chan types next, probably some sort of lecture. He’s already replied to anything important anyway. He throws the offending object into his bag. Honestly he’s so ready to throw the poor phone at a wall but he doesn’t have the money to replace it so he resists and rings his blanket in his hands while glaring.

 

“Ignore him, he’s being a dick today,” Changbin advises in a hushed tone so as not to wake their sleeping friend.

“ _You’re telling me, he implied I just follow Minho like some little duckling or some shit. I know he just wants to be that one responsible older friend but I kinda wanna just tell him to go fuck himself…_ ” Jisung rants, his hands flying through the different gestures that make up his sentences.

“ _Yeah, he was harassing Minnie earlier. Minnie wanted to be polite and warn him early that you guys were going to be late, but he just got a lecture from Chan about using phones in school and being a bad influence on you, Jinnie and Innie,_ ” Changbin joins in the ranting.

“ _I guess that’s what caused the meltdown?_ ” Jisung guesses.

“ _Yep, I think Innie joining us in detention just pushed him over the edge. He was already stressed out about you and Jinnie so yeah. Like I get it probably just didn’t go through right in a text but Chan needs to chill._ ” Changbin agrees, confirming the idea with the added information as much as he can without knowing Minho’s actual thoughts.

“ _Well we can talk to Minho in the morning, and I guess we’ll talk to Chan after the Christmas holidays. It’s a bit of a bad idea, I know, but I don’t want an argument fucking up the Christmas fair, or even Christmas itself,_ ” Jisung decides, because he is in fact mature and independent despite the way everyone seems to like to piss him off by seeing him as some sort of little pet to the slightly more mischievous pair of the group, “ _It’ll give everyone time to cool down hopefully as well._ ”

“ _Wow, when did my Ji-ji get so smart, huh?_ ” Changbin coos, leaning over to pinch one of Jisung’s signature chubby squirrel cheeks briefly between signing, “ _But seriously, whatever anyone else is trying to say about you, you’re amazing and independent and just plain brilliant. Like you handled today so, so well - I could never deal with something like that as calmly as you! Just ignore those people and keep being you, okay?_ ”

Jisung nods, blinking back a few tears. They’re at least half happy though, since he’s just so grateful to have such supportive friends. He gives Changbin a grateful smile and hopes it works to convey what he’s trying to say because words are hard - if the smile he gets in return is anything to go by, it does.

When they notice Minho start to stir from his nap, Jisung finally moves the half-awake boy’s head off his lap onto a pillow and gets up to sort out dinner so they can eat and then sleep.

 

* * *

 

The next morning Jisung wakes up in a heaven of fluffy blankets covering the mess of tangled limbs that is him and Minho. He vaguely remembers Changbin sleeping in the reasonably big double bed in Minho’s room with them as well, but presumes the other boy left earlier without waking them. It makes sense since Changbin has snowboarding practise to get to every weekend - Jisung doesn’t know his schedule exactly, but considering how seriously he takes the sport he almost certainly takes advantage of all the free time he gets just like Jisung, Minho and Hyunjin with figure skating.

To be honest, Jisung doesn’t even remember exactly how they got to being cuddled up in bed. He’s not all that surprised though since they did stay up quite late - as soon as they finished eating they ended up continuing watching Disney movies, moving onto Jisung’s favourite (Bambi) and then Changbin’s favourite, as much as he likes to deny it, Cinderella. Sure, they love the proper live action movies like The Princess Diaries, but nothing beats animated classics designed for five year olds. Even if they ended up practically dead on their feet, they were glad they got to wait up for Minho’s parents to get back - something just felt wrong about not doing so, and no it was definitely not a fear of monsters in the dark…

Jisung carefully untangles himself with a level of ease achieved by a whole load of practise, and then swings his legs over the side of the bed to get down. He immediately shivers violently at the cold wooden floor against his feet and wastes no time sprinting to Minho’s sock draw to dig out a pair of fluffy socks. Once the appropriate footwear has been acquired, he continues on his adventure downstairs. As soon as he smells pancakes he can’t hold back his squeal and a little excited jump, much to the amusement of Minho’s parents.

“Good morning, dear! _Changbin left earlier to go snowboarding and said he’ll see you on Monday,_ ” Minho’s mum explains to him.

“ _Oh yeah, I thought that was probably what happened. Should I go wake Minnie?_ ” Jisung asks, trying to catch a glimpse at the great smelling breakfast being cooked by Minho’s dad but he’s playfully blocked by both adults, making him pout.

“That would be great, thanks Ji!” Minho’s dad says, trying to keep an eye on the stove and an eye on the sign language: a hard task.

Jisung races up the stairs again and slides down the corridor back to Minho’s room, his socked feet almost silent. He’s only half-awake so manages to be amazed by this fact - fully awake future him will be very glad that was something that happened before waking Minho. It’s not too hard to wake up his best friend, especially now he knows all the tricks. He just has to shake Minho gently before the other groggily sits up. Though, given how short a time it takes, Minho has most likely been at least somewhat awake for a little bit. Not too surprising given his sensitive hearing and all the talking going on downstairs.

“ _‘Morning Sungie,_ ” Minho signs lazily, yawning straight afterwards as he drags himself out of bed.

“ _Good morning Minnie,_ ” Jisung replies, a good lot more excitedly now he’s more awake, “ _There’s pancakes and bacon downstairs!_ ”

Minho screams ‘nice’ and sprints down the stairs, Jisung trailing behind slower due to laughing at Minho. He also has to tell his mind to stop thinking romantic things about how cute Minho is and how domestic this is.

“ _So have you got a plan for today?_ ” Minho’s dad asks once everyone is sat down at the small dining table.

“ _Not really, definitely no skating until later. We need a bit of rest and peaceful time,_ ” Jisung answers, “ _I was thinking of going to Lucie’s to see the cats though?_ ”

“ _That’s actually what I was going to suggest! You two haven’t been up since the kittens were first born, you should see them now. They’re fluffy monsters,_ ” Minho’s mother encourages the idea.

“ _And we need to see our precious Rose again!_ ” Minho adds, referring to the stray the two of them rescued years back and was adopted by their neighbour since at the time their parents weren’t sure about taking on the responsibility of a pet so suddenly.

 

* * *

 

~Flashback~ 

 

Jisung chased after Minho giggling. The two of them were racing up the hill to their favourite flower garden. It was the first half term of year 7 for Jisung and he had been so busy either at school, the rink or recovering from tough days that he hadn’t been able to visit his and Minho’s little garden in what seemed like forever. So now that they finally had a break it was the first thing he suggested when asked what he wanted to do.

However, in his happiness, he completely missed seeing the little stone in his path and went crashing to the floor right before their destination. He narrowly missed the rose bushes which he was very thankful for. The fall didn’t particularly bother him - after years of ice skating he was just happy to fall on pavement and not ice at this point.

“ _Did you just make a cat noise after falling over?_ ” Minho questioned.

“ _What? No, why would I do that?_ ” Jisung replied confused and still on the ground. Minho tilted his head and then suddenly the noise came again, both of them hearing it this time. They glanced at each other baffled.

“You okay, boys?” One of their favourite neighbours: Lucie, a 25 year old post-grad student who always let the boys play with her little troupe of cats, just so happened to be passing by.

At that point she had just sent a litter of foster kittens back to the centre now that they were old enough to be adopted, so she only had the two cats she actually owned at home: Mocha, a gorgeous Birman with chocolate coloured markings in his soft, fluffy fur; and Saga, a Ragdoll kitten who absolutely loved flopping into people’s laps and arms.

“Yeah, Sung just tripped over a stone. But we did hear a cat noise from one of the bushes?” Minho explained to her with Jisung nodding along while he got up off of the floor finally.

“Huh? Really? Let me check it out…” Lucie approached the rose bush in question just as the supposed cat meowed again.

She warily pushed the leaves and flowers out of the way, her hands covered by thick sleeves to try and ward off the sharp thorns. Minho and Jisung watched on with matching nervous expressions. Eventually, with the help of the owner of the house who came out after about 10 minutes, the cat was pulled free from the bush. The poor thing had been scratched up quite a bit from all the thorns and probably some other things such as gardening equipment, but seemed not to have any major wounds other than one nastily placed cut on the left side of her face which would probably leave her blind in that eye.

Lucie took the cat to the vet at the local cat rescue centre she volunteered at in her free time and fostered kittens from. Minho and Jisung tagged along after telling their parents. It turned out the cat had lost vision in that eye but everything else was fine fortunately. Much to the disappointment of the two boys they would have to wait a week or so to see if anyone claimed the cat before she could be put up for adoption, not that their parents were able to take in a stray at the moment anyway.

In the end it turned out that nobody did claim the cat so Lucie ended up adopting her since Minho and Jisung were so attached to the little stray. They named her Rose after the flowers and ended up falling even more in love after she was all cleaned up and friendly after getting used to having a home - once the dirt and bits of rose bush were properly cleaned out they could truly appreciate her tortoiseshell colouring with a cute fluffy white belly and white markings on each paw.

 

* * *

 

Once Minho and Jisung have washed up and gotten changed into nice warm clothes, the two of them skip happily down the road to Lucie’s house. It’s very similar to Minho’s house actually, but a bit smaller and with less - but larger - bedrooms upstairs. Everything about the place screams cat, not only because of the clear signs of all the cats that live there, but also because of the numerous cat themed decorations. Even the Christmas tree contains little kitten ornaments scattered in its branches!

They waste no time in searching for the litter of kittens belonging to Saga. The last time they saw them it was a lot easier to locate each mini Saga, but now they’re older and have pretty much free reign of the place. Luckily it appears to be mass cat nap time for the residents of the house however, meaning it’s not overly difficult to find the heap of fluffy fur - plus they don’t have to find each individual kitten.

The kittens don’t seem to be too tired though as they bolt up as soon as Minho and Jisung make themselves known. Most of them are a tiny bit shy, but one little ball of white and grey fluff doesn’t hesitate to hop over to Minho. The little kitten reaches out a tiny snowy white paw to tap Minho’s outstretched hand, making the boy squeal quietly and look over to Jisung with wide eyes. ‘Cute’ Jisung thinks, as he reaches out to the other kittens.

Yet another enthusiastic little one steps forward, this time in Jisung’s direction. Jisung can’t help but giggle as the creature bounces towards him enthusiastically and literally jumps into his lap only to flop down as if playing dead in typical Ragdoll cat fashion. The fluffy floppy cats are definitely Jisung’s favourite breed, whereas Minho loves all cats but especially strays like Rose.

Speaking of Rose, she also approaches them. The tortoiseshell climbs into Minho’s lap happily and lazily nudges half-acknowledges the kittens. While she used to be very anxious given her past, these days she’s friendly but also very much so a princess. Having said that, pretty much every single one of Lucie’s cats just expect to be treated like royalty by everyone around them. Saga aggressively flops into people’s arms, demanding affection and often imposing on serious conversations; Mocha meows loudly and nips at people’s ankles the moment they ignore him, as well as knocking phones and laptops out of the way to make space for his rather big (due to the sheer amount of long fluffy fur he has) self.

“Oh, I actually had something I wanted to tell you two,” Lucie interrupts their little kitten playtime. She seems like she’s acting casual, but the look on her face shows she’s hiding something.

“What? What? What?” Jisung asks excitedly, both him and the kitten in his lap’s eyes brightening and heads lifting up suddenly at the noise.

“Well, you know how my mother was ill, right?” She starts explaining, gaining nods from both boys, “So she’s actually moving in with me soon, just in time for Christmas. I was really, really worried about the cats because I’m going to have a lot less time and not be able to give them attention, but…”

The boys wait anxiously as she draws out the last word for a truly excessive amount of time.

“I know you two have always wanted cats… and I spoke to your mothers and they weren’t against the idea of a little early Christmas present!” Lucie finally reveals.

Minho and Jisung look at each other and have matching expressions of clearly wanting to scream, but not being able to due to cats very close to them who would not appreciate that sort of reaction. So they settle for squealing and chirping relatively quietly whilst hugging the cats currently occupying their arms.

It doesn’t take them long to work out the arrangements. All three of the adult cats regularly wander over to Minho and Jisung’s houses anyway, and regularly stay at Minho’s place when Lucie has to go away, so it won’t be too bad a move for them. The kittens should adjust quite easily due to their young age as well. They also decide that all the cats will be at Minho’s place as it would be hard to separate them and Minho has the bigger house - Jisung isn’t upset though since they are basically neighbours given the short distance between their houses. It’s not as if Jisung doesn’t pretty much live at Minho’s by this point anyway.

They also figure out the best time to move the cats is the next Friday since it’s the last day of school and therefore a half day. Minho and Jisung normally hang out with all their friends on days like that but this year they can’t due to conflicting schedules so it works out perfectly. Not that they wouldn’t drop everything for their furry babies anyway.

 

* * *

 

Later that day when they finally head to the rink, Jisung is glad to see Minho is a lot happier. During their time with the cats they did get a brief moment to talk about the day before and it was exactly as Jisung had presumed after talking to Changbin. Luckily the quick talk went well and Minho agreed with Jisung’s idea to leave it for after the holidays - as a Christmas fanatic he definitely doesn’t want to ruin the festivities. They actually get lucky as Chan seems to have a similar idea and doesn’t bring up anything either, plus the cats definitely helped (Jisung thinks they might actually be a great idea for stress management in the future, especially now they’re even closer).

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all think I did this plotline justice heh, and I hope y'all also notice this update is vaguely on time! (I just had to throw down like 2k words just now cos I actually went to bed early yesterday, self care my dudes!!!!)  
> Minho basically adopting 8 whole cats for Jisung represents my own lack of impulse control + kinda bad ideas that end up ok but will be judged by others cos it be like that sometimes.  
> I don't think there's any definitions needed, but feel free to ask for any or anything else in the comments! 
> 
> p.s. hopefully there will be Christmas eve and Christmas day chapters, but we'll see as they still have to be somewhat relevant and normal length so that would be about 13k words to write in 4 days oof, I'll try my best tho since school is out now yay, if not I might do a little new years q&a that may happen anyways :D


	6. Dramatic Duets and Choreography From Mean Girls is the True Way to Get in the Christmas Spirit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little Christmas chapter ^_^

 

The sound of things being tossed around in a panicked manner is present throughout the clothes. Jisung knows the reindeer onesie has to be somewhere. The question is just exactly where is that somewhere? He has to be at the rink for the Christmas fair in approximately an hour or two and he deeply regrets not getting organised earlier. Who can blame him though; he has 8 cats these days, even if they don’t live at his house (though that arguably means even more time is taken up through travel).

Jisung sprints around the house, throwing boxes and heaps of laundry all over the place as his mum, who doesn’t even bother to shout anymore, just sighs at the thought of everything they have to clean up later. He is at least wearing some clothes while on the reindeer onesie hunt - due to how cold it is both outside and at the rink, he has a plain long sleeved top and leggings for underneath the currently missing onesie. He also has fluffy socks on for now because the wooden floors are extremely freezing. Eventually he does find the onesie in, who would’ve guessed, the wardrobe.

Now properly dressed, they make their way over to Minho’s house, which is always the meeting place for things like this since he does have the working car. Minho’s mum is already at the rink by now since as a member of staff she has actual work to do there, so she kindly allowed Jisung’s mum to have her car to take the boys to the rink. Due to the dramatic onesie hunt they’re more than a tiny bit late, but somehow they still manage to be there before Chan and Hyunjin - probably because even if they had to walk there, Jisung’s house is very close.

“Morning Sungie!” Minho greets enthusiastically as he opens the door for them, Saga waiting patiently by his feet for someone to pick her up. Jisung obliges and picks up the fluffy white and grey cat.

“Hiya Minnie!” Jisung greets back. His arms are too full of cat to sign but he doesn’t mind calling out a greeting to Minho - he really just gets exhausted from speaking for whole conversations, plus gets insecure about his little speech problems, as well as finding it difficult to process what other people say to him.

“ _ Do I not get a good morning, Minho? _ ” Jisung’s mum asks, pretending to be upset.

“ _ Oh do excuse me, good morning your royal highness, Queen Han! _ ” Minho bows deeply, and Jisung’s mum curtseys in reply. Jisung laughs as he finally steps into the house, floppy Ragdoll cat in arms.

They sit down on the couch and end up being buried by the mountain of cats that live there now as they wait for the other two to arrive. Not that they’re really complaining. Jisung even remembered to leave the door unlocked because he knew this would happen. They’ve had the cats for like a week and he’s already used to constantly having at least two of them around unless they’re purposefully locked out of a room.

About ten minutes later Chan and Hyunjin arrive together, with Minho calling out that the door is open from where he is hidden beneath the big pile of fur that is Mocha and Rose. Chan takes one look at the situation and just sighs while Jisung’s mum gives him a knowing look. Hyunjin on the other hand immediately goes up to the kittens to play with them, instantly making friends with the two smallest out of the five.

(“Hyunjin aren’t you allergic to cats?” Chan asks, looking like he’s on the verge of a breakdown already.

“Don’t worry I took meds exactly for this situation!” Hyunjin reassures him. At least that’s one problem avoided.)

In the end they are delayed for about 20 minutes due to getting distracted by the cats. Even Chan ends up falling in love with all of them, especially Rose who is very happy to just curl up on his lap while Minho and Jisung scream about betrayal from the other side of the room. But they do have places to be so Jisung’s mum eventually herds them all out to the car as soon as she finds the keys.

Jisung, as the smallest and youngest, is forced to sit in the middle seat. He doesn’t mind too much though since it’s a short ride and he really is very tiny so it isn’t even that uncomfortable for him. He has Hyunjin and Minho on either side of him, while Chan sits in the front passenger seat. There isn’t even much protest over that since Jisung’s mum absolutely refuses to have any of the three chaotic figure skaters directly beside her as she drives. They just end up cuddling happily in the back without protest anyway.

The real problems start when the radio is turned on and some of the songs from The Greatest Showman start playing. Naturally, Jisung and Minho just have to sing along very excitedly. The most hyped up song of the lot is This Is Me since it’s Jisung’s favourite. Chan seems very glad to be sitting even slightly further away from the loud mess that is the back of the car.

It only gets worse when Jisung’s mum eventually has enough and switches the radio station only for it to be playing Christmas songs. All I Want For Christmas is one of the songs that they always sing especially loudly and dramatically to, with silly little dance moves added as well, every time it plays. This time is no different and Jisung and Minho absolutely cannot resist singing along, turning it into an overly theatrical duet, ‘practising for later’.

“Ugh why did I ever suggest they do this?” Hyunjin wonders out loud.

“Yeah, why did you do this to me, just why?” Chan groans from the front of the car.

“To be honest I thought they would get embarrassed,” Hyunjin explains, speaking as if the other two aren’t right there and listening to them.

“Awfully bold of you to assume either of us has any sense of shame left,” Minho points out, signing along with his words for Jisung who is visibly very confused and lost by all the meaningless noise that is apparently words. Jisung is very thankful to have a best friend like him.

Other than the truly atrocious screeching along to whatever song is on the radio, the journey to the ice rink is quite nice and not too long. This means they have plenty of time to warm up and practise their routines last minute before people start to arrive. Luckily they don’t have to help out with setting anything up as everything is either being done by employees or the other people running their own stalls at the fair.

Random Christmas songs are being played over the speakers and the place is full of Christmas decorations everywhere Jisung looks. He loves it. Him and the others fit right in, wearing their ridiculous reindeer onesies. Jisung and Minho even have glittery red and green ribbon tied into their skates (not as the actual laces though, since broken laces are no joke) to really get into the Christmas spirit.

 

* * *

 

It seems like no time passes at all before the rink is open to the public for the fair. There are a few fun Christmas themed public skating sessions between their performances fortunately so the boys do get the breaks they need. Right now, Jisung is stretching carefully so he’s ready for all the fancy moves in their opening routine. The very hard to put together tracklist and choreography is absolutely perfect at this point in terms of being impressive, but is definitely going to be tiring and complex. 

Way too soon for a poor, anxious Jisung’s liking, a loud bell rings and a voice is heard over the speakers announcing that everyone must vacate the ice for the performances. Jisung breathes in deeply and nervously adjusts his onesie, making sure the hood will stay on properly at least for a few minutes. He walks over to the entrance he has to come on from.

Across the rink Minho can be seen teasing Hyunjin and reminding him to take off his skate guards. Jisung takes off his too, even though they have a few minutes. He really is not interested in tripping and falling. While it’s funny during a private practise, or even minorly embarrassing during a public skating session, it’s downright awful at a performance or competition.

The first few notes of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer begin to play and Jisung takes one last deep breath before skating out onto the ice. He barely resists singing along to the song loudly, but he does hum quietly. Him and the others all skate to the middle of the rink effortlessly before splitting off in different directions. Jisung leans forward into a charlotte spiral across the rink before skating around in a circle on one leg - not a big deal for him, but the crowd seem to love it.

The rest of the moves go smoothly as well with them all finishing pointing to the little antlers on the hoods of their onesies. Jisung’s nerves are mostly gone already and he is happy to start the next song. Jingle Bells is up now and Jisung happily launches into a series of little hops and jumps, and then some little spins and turns. After that, the routine is mostly just some fun footwork and fancy backwards moves and then a couple more hops.

The next three songs before their little break continue to go well and Jisung is grinning by the end. He happily skates off with a little wave to the audience. Then he responsibly remembers to put his skate guards on (Minho is dramatically miming at him and Hyunjin to remind them). He skips over to the other side of the rink to meet the others. This day of performances seems like it’s going to be great.

 

* * *

 

~Flashback~

 

Over the years Minho and Jisung have been in many different Christmas fairs. Each time had all sorts of different songs and routines, some not even all that Christmas themed. A few years ago they had even done their own version of Disney on ice, where they performed various well known disney songs. That idea was a big hit both with the adults who found it adorable and the children who were interested in Disney themselves. And there were only about 3 little falls - even those were considered cute given the boys were a bit younger then.

At their first ever Christmas performance they were only part of two songs, while some older skaters took up most of the allotted performance time on the ice. It didn’t matter to them though since they were so happy to even get to do a few cute little dances in front of the audience. That year and the next year their mums even made an appearance on the ice, given that the two both had experience in professional figure skating in their teenage years.

Last year had even been the first time Jisung had ever landed a triple Salchow jump in front of other people. He had decided to do it in the performance even though he’d only kind of managed it a couple of times during rehearsals. He got a bit of a lecture within the congratulations but he didn’t particularly mind when he was so proud of himself (as was Minho who hugged the life out of him while squealing).

The most memorable year was definitely two years before when Jisung had actually gotten injured from an especially nasty fall. He ended up breaking his wrist which was very, very painful. The pain had instantly sent him into an awful panic attack and Minho had to keep basically glued to his side all the way to the hospital. They definitely didn’t want any repeats of that this year.

 

* * *

 

The first thing Jisung does in his break from performing is head to the cafe to get some coffee. He’s always awful at sleeping properly but last night was especially bad and he needs to make it through the day somehow. When he gets to the cafe there’s quite a bit of a queue. This always happens during events. Jisung isn’t phased by this though and just slides in behind the counter and makes his own drink, plus one for each of the other boys and him and Minho’s mums.

Jisung carries back the lot of drinks as carefully as possible to their little makeshift dressing room in the staffroom. He hands each drink to its respective owner and then curls up on the couch next to Minho. Minho puts an arm around him and they relax, sipping on their coffees every so often.

This break is only for an hour so they decide to just have a drink and maybe something small to eat. After the next little set of songs they have a long three hour break where they can grab some lunch and enjoy the fair themselves for a while. Then they have the last lot of performances, including the duet as the penultimate routine.

Jisung almost falls asleep on Minho’s shoulder after he finishes his coffee. The older boy just gives him a little kiss on the forehead and pulls him onto his lap to cuddle. Jisung practically purrs while Hyunjin and Chan make faces at the two of them.

Unfortunately they really do not have time to enjoy it too much as they have to get up and do a few stretches again. Before long the bell is ringing again to announce that they’re on again. This time they enter the ice to the song Sleigh Ride, one of Jisung’s absolute favourite Christmas songs. The choreography they have for this song is really fun and Jisung and Minho get to show off some of their most fun moves.

Jisung dances and hops around excitedly throughout the song, holding all his spins and landing all the little jumps and hops in the routine. Eventually it gets to his favourite part. The music is building up as he builds up speed. He exchanges a glance with Minho both for emotional support and checking they’re timing is one hundred percent accurate. At exactly the right moment, as Hyunjin and Chan are doing camel spins, Jisung and Minho both take off into impressive flying sit spins. The crowd go wild and Jisung can see his own mum at the side grinning.

It seems like forever until their next break as they do all the different types of spirals and like a thousand (more like five) different step sequences that were absolutely the hardest part to learn. Finally they get to the end of the last song and Jisung is breathing heavily from exhaustion as they hold their finishing pose. He skates off lazily to where his mum is waiting and falls into her arms for a hug as soon as he has skate guards on.

 

* * *

 

For the first few minutes of the break all of them are just sorting out their skates and changing out of the onesies. Jisung throws on a dark red hoodie and pulls on his combat boots, before adding a cute fluffy white beanie hat to complete the look. For the next performances they are fine to wear more normal outfits, just with skates obviously, anyway.

“ _ Hey, Ji, wanna go shopping with me? _ ” Hyunjin asks once both of them are finished changing and organising their stuff.

“ _ Sure, I need a present for Minnie anyway! _ ” Jisung replies, grabbing his backpack that has some money and other important things in it, but a lot of space for presents to be hidden in.

The two of them stroll through the little Christmas market of sorts that they have there at a leisurely pace. The stalls are all bright and colourful, many even have little fairy lights decorating them. Every few seconds one or both of the two boys gets distracted. It’s fine though since it isn’t overly crowded so they won’t get lost or anything.

“ _ So what kind of thing were you thinking of getting? _ ” Hyunjin questions. Jisung shrugs in response.

“ _ I don’t really know. He has more than enough blankets and the cats have plenty of things from Lucie, _ ” Jisung answers honestly, chewing on his bottom lip nervously. This is a bit last minute shopping by his standards and while he obviously knows what Minho likes by this point, he doesn’t know just what Minho would like for this gift specifically.

“ _ Alright, we can just look around then I guess, _ ” Hyunjin suggests.

“ _ Sounds good. _ ” Jisung agrees.

After that he looks more closely at each and every stall to try and find the perfect gift. By now it’s been about 40 minutes and he’s starting to get a bit frustrated. Hyunjin must be able to see the pout gracing his features, as Hyunjin decides to ruffle Jisung’s fluffy blonde hair encouragingly. This gets at least a small smile from him.

Eventually he sees a little stall set up right in the corner that really catches his eye for some reason. It has every sparkly gem covered item imaginable and Jisung instantly wishes he could afford to buy the whole place out. Unfortunately he only has £30 for presents, so there will be no mountain of jewellery returning home with him this evening.

Jisung smiles shyly at the old lady who appears to be in charge and quietly looks around at the assortment of bejewelled objects. After a while of his eyes just roaming over the different things without anything in particular standing out, something finally seems to scream ‘buy me’ at him. It’s an adorable little matching set of two cat charms (he’s guessing they’re keyrings or something), one silver and one gold. They’re absolutely perfect. 

Even better, they’re well within his budget. Given that he has a few pounds left still if he decides to buy them, he continues to look around a bit. The cat charms are adorable but they’re not exactly meaningful. This time he’s drawn to a collection of symbolic charm bracelets that contain precious stones which each have a meaning. After taking a while to read through the different explanations behind each piece of jewellery (it takes a bit of time to read and process the information for him) he finally decides on a bracelet that just has the most perfect meaning. 

Hyunjin seems extremely relieved when Jisung finally pays for everything so they can move on - while it’s fun for Jisung, poor Hyunjin had to just stand there watching his friend pick out presents. After that they just walk around a bit and use their spare change to play some little games at the charity stalls. They don’t win a whole load, but Jisung does manage to win a Stitch toy which he is definitely giving to Minho later.

Being the unorganised teenagers they are, Jisung and Hyunjin almost forget to eat lunch. Luckily they get a text from Chan telling them that the two older boys are at the cafe if they want to join them. There is of course a silent agreement to not reveal that they would literally starve without constant reminders like this. It doesn’t really matter anyway though since they do get to eat. Jisung even gets to have red velvet cake, one of his favourites (he loves cheesecake more but has to admit the one the cafe does isn’t great) as well as an A* hot chocolate made just the way he likes it by one of the staff members he’s close to.

 

* * *

 

Jisung double checks (more like quadruple checks, or even more but he can’t remember anything after that) the bobby pins in his hair. They are in fact holding in silver tinsel that is cutely tucked into his hair between the waves that it has just been curled into. Minho has a similar hairstyle except it’s gold tinsel. It matches just like the cat charms from earlier.

Next he has to quickly put on the Christmas themed choker that completes the festive side of the outfit. This is easier said than done. Especially when you have Jisung’s level of coordination - the only place he has any sort of grace is on the ice and even that can be questionable outside of competitions and gala performances. Fortunately for Jisung he has a lovely and very handsome knight in shining armour, otherwise known as Minho Lee, to help him with all the pieces of jewellery he constantly struggles with.

“You look great, Sungie,” Minho tells him as he stands behind Jisung to do up the little red and green necklace.

“Thanks…” Jisung murmurs. His voice is a bit raspy due to rarely speaking but it still has it’s normal soft and gentle qualities that everyone else seems to love.

Now that his hands are empty he fidgets with the sleeves of his oversized hoodie, eventually deciding on biting the fabric. Minho looks like he’s going to stop him but honestly at least it’s just fabric and not his own wrist or lips - Jisung is very prone to getting nasty lip injuries from excessive biting and is extremely forgetful (and he won’t admit it but also insecure) when it comes to having something healthy to chew on like a special necklace.

“Nervous?” Minho asks, throwing an arm around Jisung’s shoulders and pulling the shorter boy into his chest for a little hug.

“A bit. Like I get we’ve performed all day but this is a duet and it’s an actual decent routine,” Jisung replies, his voice being muffled by the fact that he’s still mouthing on his sleeve. Minho can still pretty much understand him though - best friend things, y’know. 

“Hmm, we’re gonna ace it though. And even if we don’t we aren’t being scored so it’s all cool.” Minho always knows exactly what to say to calm Jisung down and dare he say he’s fallen just a little bit more in love with his best friend just from Minho being himself. Yes, Jisung does know he’s hopeless.

Jisung just chooses to nod in response however and crouches down to do up the laces of his skates. Once they’re one hundred percent sure that they’re really very much so absolutely completely ready to go, they finally leave their makeshift dressing room. They head over to the entrance they have to skate on from with Jisung skipping anxiously beside Minho. It seems like not nearly enough time until everything is ready, the rink is clear and skate guards are definitely off and safely balanced on the railing.

As the first chord of the song Minho gives Jisung a reassuring smile that could honestly light up the darkest night sky ever in Jisung’s lovestruck fool opinion. Anyway, back on track with relevant things… Jisung smiles back as much as he can without it looking too forced and fake. Minho still notices the anxiety though - honestly, it’s hard not to when Jisung is literally buzzing with it. Minho gives Jisung’s hand a little reassuring squeeze and then they have to start skating already.

By the time they’re properly on the ice Jisung’s nerves are significantly calmer as usual. As the first few lines of the song start, Jisung starts to turn around in a lazy spin. He gradually speeds up with the music while lifting his right leg up to transition from a layback spin to a Biellmann spin. As soon as the music is started properly he speeds off skating backwards around the rink to build up momentum for his first jump. Unlike the other more cutesie routines there are much bigger jumps in this one. Jisung chants inside his head, praying he can land this Salchow and start it off right.

He doesn’t need to worry as both him and Minho land their jumps almost perfectly synchronised and on beat (it’s not exact due to Minho being taller and a bit more powerful which causes his jumps to be a bit different to Jisung’s lighter style). After that he swiftly twists his ankles and hips into a turn to skate forwards again. He nails the crossovers and the other little bits of fancy footwork, which brings a genuine smile to his face.

As he gets to the other end of the rink he prepares for his next jump, a double toe-loop. He lands this one perfectly as well much to his delight and happily moves on to the less serious little section of the choreography. He skates dramatically towards Minho, mouthing the lyrics ‘baby all I want for Christmas is you’ reaching out to point at Minho on the last word. Then he grabs Minho’s hands that are mirrored in the outstretched position and spins the two of them around. Both of them can’t help but giggle but luckily they manage to pull off the move at least semi-professionally. (In practise they just collapsed in a tangled mess as usual while giggling at each other and blushing.)

The rest of the routine goes fairly similarly with serious skating and impressive tricks during the verses and silly theatrical spinning during the chorus. The audience are eating it up though and Jisung is having the time of his life. They switch things up for the last little bit of the song however. Jisung carefully goes into one of his favourite moves - hydroblading. He skates on one leg in an arc with his hand seemingly drawing the arc he’s skating in the ice. He’s tempted to dab along with it but stops himself, if only for balance purposes. 

As soon as he pulls up from the very low down move he skates a truly elegant spiral, trying his best to envision a pretty swan on a lake to help him with his arm movements. Once he arrives at his destination in the middle he stops right in front of Minho for their finishing pose. Right as the last notes of the song fade away they stand with their foreheads touching while holding each other’s hands. Jisung is pretty sure he can hear Hyunjin cooing over them and his suspicions are further encouraged when the boy has a shit eating grin on his face where he waits for the two skaters to get off the ice.

 

* * *

 

After that they only have three songs left to perform. Three of the best songs, in Jisung’s opinion. They really are saving the best for last. The first one is Jingle Bell Rock. Yes, it is the Mean Girls version. This is why Jisung’s mum doesn’t take much credit for their performances. Said poor long-suffering single mother is in fact being dragged into this performance to act as the ‘cool mum’ videoing them. Minho’s mum is actually filming the whole thing - she filmed the previous performances because they’re actually decent, and this one because it really well and truly is a work of art (just more in the meme way than the beautiful elegant way).

(It took a lot to persuade her to take part, but Jisung is pretty sure it was Chan’s point that won her over, that point being: “if I have to take part in this so do you, please for the love of God!”

Whatever did the trick doesn’t matter though because they’re getting to do it and Jisung is hyped. Minho is a massive fan of the movie so naturally Jisung has watched it a few times too and while he likes it quite a bit he especially appreciates this part of it. Hyunjin is also pretty obsessed with it so there is definitely enough enthusiasm to keep the performance entertaining.)

Jisung has absolutely no regrets whilst dancing to the ridiculous choreography. Minho and Hyunjin seem to be feeling the same way. Even Jisung’s mum is giving in and genuinely enjoying it, if only because she gets to laugh at the teenagers being the idiots they are. Chan on the other hand looks like he regrets ever reaching out to Minho as small children during skating lessons, and then for some reason joining their friendship group and still being a part of it years later.

After that, luckily for poor Chan, they perform to everyone’s favourite song from Santa Paws, I Do Believe In Christmas. They incorporated as much of the original choreography from the movie as possible, but there are still some little changed or added bits to make it work better on ice - plus there are parts that needed to be more complex to make it more interesting. Jisung’s favourite part is definitely when him and Hyunjin do a move where they get to slide on their knees across the ice towards the end of the song.

The last song they perform to is Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. Partly due to getting fed up of creating and learning choreography, and partly due to just wanting to have some fun, they decided to freestyle parts of it. It is their goodbye song after all. While Chan does some impressive moves that are normally found in your standard competition routine, Minho does all his favourite spirals. Hyunjin does a cool freestyle step sequence and just dances along to the song cutely with some improvised hops. 

Jisung on the other hand ignores anything and everything to do with being professional. He chooses to go back to his grade 1-5 days of skating and does all the cute tricks that tend to impress the beginner skaters. He goes from touching his toes while in a glide to little two footed jumps and turning around on the spot in a circle. He even does marching steps and flaps his hands like a penguin - he always used to call them penguin steps to the point he forgot they have a real name and often confused others when talking about them.

After their freestyling they all do a little series of moves in sync before skating around the rink to wave at everyone. Once their little goodbyes are done they stop in the middle of the rink in a line and hold hands to take a proper bow. Then they finally get to leave the spotlight for good and relax: it was fun but all good things must come to an end, and that end is often welcomed very much especially when you have social anxiety and awful social exhaustion.

 

* * *

 

Once all the members of the public have left and all the private stall owners have packed up, it’s time to sort out the ice rink’s own equipment and decorations. They’re leaving up a lot of the general Christmas themed items until January, but the banners specific to the fair need to be taken down. There are also some extra barriers/fences and other things used to control where the public can and can’t go, and to make the place easier to navigate in general, that need to be taken down and put in their respective storage spaces.

Aside from putting things away, there’s also a lot of rubbish that needs to be cleaned up. Along with that also comes a whole heap of lost property such as coats and wallets that were left behind. All the things people left behind need to be picked up and taken to the front desk - thankfully the boys aren’t being made to look for phone numbers and addresses in them like they sometimes have to do when the reception staff are too busy with more urgent tasks.

Minho and Jisung’s mums are the ones handing out tasks to them. All of the boys get split up to do their jobs individually, since past experiences prove the only one out of them who can be somewhat trusted to actually focus when with one of the others is Chan. And even Chan can be distracted by a particularly annoying Minho or Hyunjin, or an extremely hyper and bouncy Jisung babbling next to him. Jisung and Minho can get things done together when they need to, like when they’ve sorted out the large collection of hire skates before, but only when the other two aren’t even in the building.

Chan is in charge of helping some of the other members of staff take the heavy equipment back to storage areas, Hyunjin is in charge of collecting up lost property and Minho has to take down old posters and banners. Luckily none of them have to clear up the rubbish since the cleaning staff are doing that part at least. Jisung gets the fun role of just doing whatever odd jobs the employees throw at him such as making sure all the music CDs are properly put away or helping lock up the cafe (his mum has worked there for a while so he’s pretty much the cafe workers’ baby just like how Minho is the baby of all the rink workers).

It only takes them about 2 hours to clear everything up, including taking a few minutes to sort their own stuff out so they can lock up the staffroom. The lot of them all go to wait out at the front where it’s still heated but they don’t have to play hide and seek when their parents come to pick them up. Hyunjin’s parents arrive perfectly on time as usual and he gives all three of the boys quick hugs and promises to see Jisung and Minho for New Years.

“So, Chan, you’re going back to Australia for Christmas, right?” Minho’s mum questions.

“Yep, we’re going to be spending Christmas on the beach with my three cousins and their parents,” Chan confirms.

“Ah, one of them is about Sung’s age isn’t he?” Jisung’s mum asks.

“Yeah, Felix. He’s the middle child out of them and his birthday is literally like a day after Ji’s,” Chan replies. The two mums nod in an interested manner while Jisung and Minho exchange glances with each other like ‘ugh our three mums having a mothers meeting, Chan really is the mum friend’.

Before long Chan’s parents also arrive. Jisung pouts as the oldest of them says goodbye so Chan gives him a big hug and a little kiss on the top of his head (Jisung thinks he can hear a slight growling noise from Minho’s direction but he’s probably imagining it). Chan goes to give Minho a hug too but thinks better of it and makes the smart decision, backing off. Obviously Chan isn’t aware since they haven’t had time to properly sit down and talk, but Minho is not too comfortable with him right now - Jisung is still upset by Chan’s actions but can look past it when he wants a goodbye hug from a long term close friend. It’s quite easily masked by the fact that Minho doesn’t really tend to be as touchy and cuddly as Jisung is anyway unless it’s with Jisung himself (or sometimes Hyunjin and Jeongin because they’re babies).

By this point Jisung is completely and utterly exhausted. Not only has it been a long and eventful day, but he was already sleep deprived and the coffee from the morning is now very much not present in his system. He resists falling asleep during the short journey home since it’ll just be a pain to have to wake up so soon to get out of the car. As soon as he’s home and all ready for bed, he pretty much crashes into the mountain of fluffy blankets and stuffed animals that is his bed. 

Of course he also sent a cute goodnight text to Minho before sleeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, it was still Christmas day when I finished writing this and it's 23:58 right now so I'm not late... I'm still kinda late cos this was supposed to be for Christmas Eve and I had another chapter planned for today but oh well, Christmas is busy and exhausting.
> 
> Aaaanyways this is basically a Christmas present for y'all (even though it does have some plot) so I really hope you enjoyed it hihi
> 
> definitions:
> 
> spiral: move on one leg where the other leg has to be held in the air somehow above hip height, a charlotte spiral is where you hold the ankle of the foot on the ground and have your other leg at almost 180 degrees  
> hydroblading: hard to explain so google images is your bestie heh, but you touch the ice with one hand and are balanced on one bent leg with the other held out straight uhhh kinda behind you? and you move in like an arc  
> hops: skating jumps where you don't turn  
> salchow and toe-loop: some types of jumps that you do turn (or rotate if we getting fancy) for
> 
> As always feel free to ask anything in the comments, and constructive criticism is cool with me as long as you aren't super harsh (just don't expect me to always agree and change like 10k words to suit your views, not that most of you would but still), seeya in a few days hopefully as I have another Christmassy chapter and a New Years chapter!! (I promise there's a lot of plot in them tho)


	7. Maybe if you stopped making me cry with nice presents we could name the cats

 

All is quiet and peaceful in the small house belonging to the Hans. It’s cold but plenty of fluffy blankets solve that problem. Suddenly the near silence is broken by a familiar demonic music box noise.

The sleeping teenager completely submerges under the blankets, trying to somehow unhear the offending music. It continues however, still at the annoyingly high volume. Jisung opens his eyes as he can finally see no way to ignore the blaring alarm coming from his phone for any longer. He rolls off the bed ever so gracefully (read as: like a questionable blanket caterpillar wriggling around in a sleep deprived haze).

He can’t even find it in himself to regret choosing that alarm though. It really does work for getting him up. Unfortunately he is still incredibly tired after only scraping together roughly two hours of sleep the previous night. When he actually looks at his phone however, he suddenly feels alive and awake again, if only for a couple of minutes, as he sees the date: it’s Christmas!

He jumps up and down and lets out a little happy shriek in excitement, along with clapping his hands together like a hyper seal pup. He narrowly avoids tripping up on the now discarded pile of blankets, left thrown down haphazardly on the floor after he reluctantly abandoned his wriggly insomniac caterpillar behaviour. Jisung happily hops, jumps and skips around the room grabbing all the things he needs to wear or bring with him when they go to Minho’s house.

“ _ Good morning honey. Nice to see you up on time, _ ” Jisung’s mum stands at the door, an amused smile gracing her face as she watches her son hopping around the place.

“ _ Merry Christmas, mum! _ ” Jisung makes a cute little chirping noise as he signs.

“ _ Merry Christmas to you too, Ji, _ ” she replies, “ _ I’m making chocolate chip pancakes downstairs, so get dressed quickly and come down. We can sort out the presents and everything later since we have a couple hours until we have to leave. _ ”

Jisung nods and then quickly starts to get changed as soon as his mum leaves and shuts the door behind her. He pulls on his favourite black jeans as well as a plain white long-sleeved shirt. To finish the outfit off he throws on a blue button down shirt over it as well. He quickly tames the fluffy mess that is his hair currently as best as he can before racing down the stairs at the speed of light - pancakes are serious business.

After scoffing down a large amount of pancakes (it’s Christmas, let him be unhealthy) Jisung and his mum fetch the various presents from each hidden location around the house. It’s a strange but fun game of hide and seek trying to find all the gifts. And you can’t forget the panic when one of them doesn’t turn up or if Jisung forgets how many he even has to look for. Nevertheless they continue to carry out the not so efficient tradition every Christmas.

Eventually all the presents are found and put into various old plastic shopping bags if they don’t already have a gift bag. Jisung and his mum wrap up in big coats and thick hats, scarves and gloves. As soon as they step outside they are very glad for not having to go far, as a cold breeze hits them hard.

 

* * *

 

~Flashback~

 

The first Christmas Jisung and Minho spent together was when they were aged 10 and 12 respectively. Or at least that was the first time they spent the actual day together, since they had been spending Christmas Eve together since a year after they first met and befriended each other at the rink. Needless to say Jisung was feeling a lot of different things: happiness; excitement; and of course, because it was Jisung after all, anxiety. After all he had never really been over to anyone else’s for Christmas - he didn’t even spend it with any extended family members ever since they had disappeared after his mum getting pregnant at such a young age.

So as he waited at the Lee’s doorstep, slightly hiding behind his mum - joys of being short - waiting for the door to be answered, he may have been shaking a little. (His mum had to hold the presents due to this.) He needn’t have worried though as the moment the door was opened by Minho’s dad, Minho himself ran out to pretty much tackle Jisung into a big bear hug. God forbid they didn’t see each other for maybe four or five days. Jisung snuggled into the older boy’s embrace, enjoying the feeling of the soft snowman themed jumper Minho was wearing, while the adults all cooed and took photos.

Soon enough they were inside and Jisung and Minho were curled up underneath blankets. They watched whatever Christmas specials were on the TV until the food was ready and then exchanged presents. Jisung was extremely pleased with everything he got: a new pair of skates from Minho’s parents since he had been using some second hand ones since he grew out of the first pair he got years ago, and they were really starting to fall apart; some new slightly fancy skating clothes and a book about the history of sign language from his own mum; last of all, he got a hooded Bambi blanket and a soft, fluffy hoodie from Minho.

(But he was even more happy to see Minho and their parents pleased with their gifts from him.)

 

The next year was very similar in terms of the planned activities like eating, watching movies and exchanging presents. However, Minho had recently made yet another friend at school. This time the friend, Hyunjin, was in the year below Minho. This was in fact the first time Minho had made a younger friend who wasn’t Jisung or one of Jisung’s friends - friends of friends are a bit different after all. Jisung was a bit jealous.

Although Hyunjin wasn’t even there with them, obviously, he had given Minho a present to give to Jisung from him. It was a pair of cute squishy narwhals (which he named Fish Number One and Fish Number Two, but in Korean, because he’s creative like that). The peace offering definitely helped improve Jisung’s feelings towards Hyunjin. Though honestly anything was better than Jisung hiding behind Minho and glaring, which was what actually happened during their first little meeting. Luckily Hyunjin hadn’t taken it too personally and after that Christmas they did actually slowly become friends, eventually being very close.

Aside from the unexpected present, there was the fact that it was Jisung’s last Christmas still as a junior school student. And he was definitely making it count. Sure, he was keen to be back in the same school as Minho, but he was also very much so against this whole growing up and moving to different places and just ahhh change idea that the world seemed to have. Of course, in the end Jisung couldn’t do anything to stop time flowing as usual, so he just sucked it up and told himself to enjoy the day as well as the rest of year six, and try to look forward to the future as much as possible.

That night Jisung and Minho ended up falling asleep curled up on Minho’s bed, which ended up being a new tradition from then on. Yes, they had definitely done this before because Jisung often slept over when his mum was working the night shift and they didn’t have any spare mattresses that weren’t god awful camping ones. But from then on some sort of magical spell seemed to have been casted, making them impossibly more cuddly and close than ever before - it’s really no surprise that Jisung has a massive crush on Minho these days.

 

By last Christmas, when they were 13 and 15 years old, they were very used to the routine and there was never any anxiety or awkwardness associated with the whole thing. However, there was a difference this time yet again since Jisung and his mum had slept over the previous night. They had also spent Christmas Eve at Hyunjin’s fancy mansion and were exhausted. Jisung always has said and will continue to say social exhaustion is a whole bitch. Therefore their parents didn’t hesitate to let the two boys sleep in a bit late - Christmas dinner is always a bit later on in the day anyway so there was no harm.

Jisung ended up waking up curled up on Minho’s chest, a soft hand running through his hair. He fluttered his eyes open to look up at said boy and was almost blinded by the smile he received.

“Morning sunshine, merry Christmas,” Minho greeted him softly, still playing with Jisung’s hair which was dyed a pretty shade of brown with blonde highlights (Minho almost fainted when he saw it for the first time).

“Mornin’ Minnie~” Jisung replied in a sing-song like voice. Or at least he tried to, since his vocal chords and whatever part of his brain processes speaking was pretty much on strike. No talking, even to Minho, for a couple of weeks he guessed.

“ _ Hey, it’s cool, you know even though I like your voice, your signing is just as cool! _ ” Minho reassured, even switching effortlessly to sign to reinforce his point.

“ _ Thanks… _ ” Jisung signed back. 

Minho just smiled again and got up out of bed, pulling Jisung with him. They didn’t even bother to change out of what they slept in - hoodies and basketball shorts, also known as the best sleepwear thank you very much according to Jisung at least. It was Christmas day after all, and they weren’t leaving the house to go anywhere. The previous year they had actually went to a restaurant but it was expensive and all of them agreed they much preferred being comfortable at home anyway.

As per usual they followed the routine (schedule or die) all the way up to the designated present opening time. Even though there wasn’t anything particularly massive or different going on, and even the presents were just clothes and other more practical things, Jisung loved every moment of it. After all, he got to spend it with his best friend, his family. So he kept smiling through the awful social exhaustion and enjoyed the day as much as possible. 

He decided it was definitely worth it, even when he woke up the next day with even worse exhaustion despite sleeping a good ten hours. Sure, Jisung had to spend the rest of the holidays curled up in silence, but he had fun with his friends and family while he could. He would totally, one hundred percent, irresponsibly do it again.

(And okay, maybe he needs to learn his limits, but that’s part of life and growing up. Despite his jokes about it, he really does try to calculate things and eventually he’ll figure out exactly how to arrange social events so he doesn’t end up dead to the world for weeks after…)

 

* * *

 

When Jisung and his mum walk up to Minho’s house, presents in hand as usual, Minho is already outside waiting for them. A dark red scarf is wrapped around him, covering about half of his face. And most of his hair is hidden by a white fluffy beanie hat with just his dark brown bangs peeking out and swishing over his eyes as the cold winter breeze hits them. Mayhaps Jisung falls more in love every second he looks at him.

However the weather clearly doesn’t have time for Jisung’s lovey-dovey bullshit as a cold breeze angrily almost pushes the small boy over. This prompts them to all rush inside, much to the amusement of Minho’s parents who are waiting in the kitchen. Jisung’s mum at least looks a bit embarrassed but Jisung and Minho just break down into fits of giggles.

They three of them go to hang up their coats, hats and scarves. Naturally, this results in a highly theatrical fight for the easiest to reach hooks. Minho wins and takes the lower down spot that Jisung wants, given his short height. The taller boy just smirks evilly while Jisung tries in vain to reach the last spot left - even the lower hooks are high for him to be honest, so this is really not a task he can complete without help. Minho looks as if he is going to actually be part of that help and Jisung sighs in relief as he’s starting to get hard of hopping up and down uselessly.

However Jisung remembers too late to never trust Minho to do the normal nice thing when he is lifted into the air by Minho. Jisung shrieks. He can’t deny he loves the feeling of strong arms around his waist though… Back to the matter at hand, he pulls himself together and hangs his stuff up before Minho puts him down so they can take off their shoes.

That is not the end of it though. As soon as their boots are off, Minho picks Jisung up again, this time bridal style. Jisung shrieks again but relaxes into the warm embrace, snuggling into Minho’s shoulder slightly. Minho kisses him on the forehead and Jisung can’t help but blush. It’s not long at all before Minho sets him down gently in his chair at the dining table so they can eat. Their parents are clearly trying their best not to coo at the two of them, but Jisung does catch his mum shooting a wink over in Minho’s direction. Jisung fires a glare back at her while Minho grins, though he is blushing by now as well Jisung notices.

Before long everyone is calmly sitting down around the table and all the food is out. With a quick nod (and a warning glare aimed towards the teenagers’ direction) everyone starts filling up their plates and eating. There’s little conversation at first due to their eagerness to stuff food down their mouths. It’s bad enough trying to speak out loud at meals, let alone have to put down all cutlery to sign whatever you want to say.

 

* * *

 

After they all finish eating they adjourn to the living room. Due to both the layout of the house and Jisung and Minho’s questionable and often concerning behaviour, they do not exactly move in such an elegant and dignified way as the wording of that sentence suggests. Instead they hop, skip and jump around like demented woodland creatures, glad for the lack of doors in the open plan room, before leaping onto the couch and sprawling across it in a concerning mess of tangled limbs.

Their parents merely sigh and sit down on the other available chairs. Minho’s mum even brings in hot chocolate and coffee for everyone. 

Finally, Jisung and Minho untangle themselves and settle down to drink their hot chocolates responsibly like ‘the young adults that they now are’. As soon as the drinks are even somewhat cool they both down them at record speed. By this point in time their parents have approximately zero hope for them and are just looking away. For their own safety Jisung politely offers to take back all the mugs when everyone finishes their drinks, and Minho tags along. Neither of them are keen to face the wrath of parents.

Once everything is back to it’s normal semi-tidy state (there is no true tidiness when the house is inhabited by a hoard of enthusiastic kittens) it’s time for presents. Jisung nervously watches as Minho crawls around the tree, finding all of his presents from everyone. It’s a vast understatement to say that Jisung is eager to impress his best friend (‘and crush’ a voice in his head whispers unhelpfully) with this special present.

Because Minho clearly loves slowly killing Jisung in cruel ways, the older boy leaves Jisung’s present until last. So Jisung has to wait an agonisingly long time for him to finish unwrapping the various generic clothes and skating related gifts, as well as some chocolate and stuffed animals, from the parents. Eventually though, he gets to Jisung’s gift. Jisung might consider that the slow torture is completely unintentional on Minho’s part, if it isn’t for the winks and smirks being sent his way throughout the opening of the previous presents, and especially right now.

Minho opens up the smaller present first. He’s purposefully teasingly slow while he tears the wrapping paper off. It’s almost as if Jisung is more tense and excited about it than Minho, despite being the one who knows what’s actually in there. After what seems like eternity, Minho finally has the present open and is able to look at the little bejewelled cat charm from the fair.

“ _ Wow, Ji this is adorable, I love it, _ ” Minho signs happily at him, pulling Jisung into a side hug, “ _ and I love you! _ ”

Jisung blushes. A lot. He shoves Minho and gestures towards the other present. As soon as Minho is preoccupied with opening this one, thankfully at a much faster pace, Jisung flaps his hands around in front of his flushed face, embarrassed.

When Minho manages to get all the wrapping paper and packaging off of the second present, the necklace, he immediately starts to read the writing that comes with it. The writing is a bit cryptic and mystical for the aesthetic but it is pretty meaningful, at least in Jisung’s opinion. Minho clearly thinks so too as he starts to tear up a bit.

“Stop it, ‘m not crying…” Minho mutters as Jisung wipes away the tears for him. Minho really does seem to love being in denial.

“ _ So you won’t mind if I tell you the full explanation behind it and make you cry more, then? _ ” Jisung giggles a little bit since he’s sure that it’s just happy tears rather than anything negative. Minho just pouts but allows him to continue. “ _ Well, in simple terms like what you read on the paper that comes with the necklace, it symbolises strength and selflessness. So basically it’s all about being a strong person who tries to help others, and puts others before themself- _ ”

“ _ Nope, that’s enough, my eyes don’t need this! _ ” Minho protests. 

“ _ Stop being a drama queen and let me appreciate you, Minnie. You’re amazing, okay, _ ” Jisung shakes his head at Minho fondly, “ _ As I was saying… I saw these type of necklaces at a little stall at the Christmas fair, and they looked really pretty - like you - so I decided to go have a look. There’s all different types of arrangements of stones and I looked through pretty much all of them. As soon as I saw this one I immediately knew it suited you, it just screams ‘Minnie’!” _

Jisung briefly stops his little signing rant-explanation to give Minho a little hug. Luckily he has tissues now.

“ _ This part is definitely going to do it… _ ” Jisung giggles as he gets on with the explanation again, trying to finish it off now so they can have a big hug. “ _ Min, you’re literally so fabulous. It’s hard to find the exact words to describe you because you’re that great - but I’m going to try! You’re so strong and determined, you go through so much and just keep pushing forward and getting on with life. Sure, you break sometimes, but who doesn’t? After all getting upset or needing to take a break just make you human, not weak. And then to add onto that you also help others. You’re so kind and never hesitate to give someone a hug or offer advise when they need it. Even when you’re really tired and struggling you’re always ready to drop everything for me - yes, I would do the same for you, no question, but that doesn’t mean I’m not insanely grateful for it. You’ve been by my side for years and you were my first proper friend, the first person outside of family to understand me and want to be around me because you genuinely like me, and I cannot express how much I love and appreciate you! _ ”

Jisung pulls a crying Minho into his arms, playing with his hair until he calms down a bit. After a couple of minutes Minho sits up again.

“ _ Thank you so much. This present means so much to me, even more so with that explanation. And you mean a hell of a lot to me too! I really love and appreciate you as well, Sung! _ ” Minho pulls Jisung into another hug, and Jisung can’t find any reason to complain - love and hugs on Christmas are great.

Now it’s Jisung’s turns to open his presents. He quickly goes through the pile of gifts from his own mum and Minho’s parents before reaching the present from Minho. While he is ever so tempted to open it unbearably slowly in retaliation, Minho seems very eager for him to get on with it. Jisung can’t wait to see what it is either anyway. While Minho could give him a rough piece of torn up fabric and Jisung would treasure it, Minho has quite the talent for emotional heart-wrenching gifts (really, Jisung’s gift for him was just payback for previous years) and while Jisung isn’t necessarily hyped for being in floods of tears, he is excited to see what sort of beautiful gift it is.

He is in no way disappointed when he carefully opens the wrapping paper to reveal a gorgeous box. It has a sunrise painted on it and written in cursive are the words: ‘The 20 Things I Love Most About Han Jisung’. Yep, things are gonna get all emotional again.

“Open it,” Minho encourages. Jisung complies.

Inside is a set of light orange cards with messages written on them. Each has a number from 1-20.

* * *

 

**1**

Your way of being the literal sun.

You’re my precious little Sungshine. You brighten up my days and I can always depend on you to be around, just like the sun. Plus you’re bright and energetic and pure and sweet. Oh, and your blonde hair perfectly matches your sunshiney nicknames! It’s why I picked that design for the box - it matches you perfectly both in physical appearance and personality!

 

**2**

Your smile. 

Every time you smile it feels like everything is going to be okay again, even if things are really tough and I’m really struggling. I don’t know what I would do without your smile, it’s definitely what gets me through the day. It makes me feel so warm inside when I see you grinning at a joke, or smiling proudly because you managed to do a new move or routine right at skating practise. My favourite thing, however, is when you have that little soft smile on your face when you’re cuddling with me or watching one of our favourite movies.

 

**3**

Your little giggles. 

They’re super cute, especially when you can barely sign along because you’re too busy shaking from laughter at your own jokes… Even if they are bad puns. It’s always such a relief when I hear you giggling again when you’ve been upset - even if it doesn’t mean everything is suddenly perfect, it is a sign that things are getting better! Which is good because I’m bad at reading people, but I always want you to be happy and I don’t want to worry about you keeping things to yourself, that’s my job!!!

 

**4**

Your chirping. 

I know you used to be really insecure about it at times, but it’s so cute! Also I should totally get a PHD in Jisung Chirping - can you get a PHD in foreign languages, or maybe behaviour - because I can totally tell apart all the different chirps and squeals you somehow come up with. Honestly we should all give up on this silly spoken language thing and chirp and sign.

 

**5**

How much you love the cats. 

Not only are you adorable when paired with the fluffiest mountain of kittens ever, but you’re really helpful. Like, wow, I have a lot of cats now. And that is hard at times - but you really help me out! I’m so so so sooo glad you’re involved and claim them as your babies too because I don’t know if I could handle my cat cult without a bit of assistance. (I’m assuming my parents would not appreciate if this went wrong, because god knows how badly eight cats in a small house could do if we didn’t do great at this)

 

**6**

Your bad jokes.

Okay, they’re not too bad. I mean, they’re awful in terms of ‘ahhh puns’ but they’re cute and funny too I guess. Please for the love of god stop influencing me and dragging me to the dark side of bad jokes though. Really. Changbin can and will kill both of us.

 

**7**

Your fluffy hair. 

Ahhhh it’s so soft and fluffy. You are banned from any more bright colours or bleach though! You’re ruining how nice it is, even if you make an absolutely awesome blonde (hehe like all those blonde jokes, it really suits you… please don’t hit me for this one). But really, your hair is adorable and it looks great on you, please feel free to keep being handsome.

* * *

Jisung doesn’t hesitate to give Minho a light smack on the shoulder at that one, even though he’s still trying to blink through happy overly emotional tears.

* * *

**8**

Your facial expressions. 

Even though they can be confusing at first, as soon as I learnt how to read them I realised just how expressive you are! Especially when you’re signing at the same time - the unique way you use expressions and everything while signing is literally so cool. Plus your silly faces to cheer me up (or distract me from across the rink, you mean child) really brighten up my day.

* * *

 

When Jisung has to take a quick (not at all quick) break from reading to have a few cuddles and repeatedly sign his appreciation for the gift through the tears, nobody is too bothered. Or well, maybe Minho is, but only because he’s impatient as all hell. But, they do eventually get back on track and read the rest.

* * *

**14**

Your voice!!! 

While I totally one hundred percent understand and support you not speaking even if you technically physically can, I do adore your voice. It’s super pretty and soft just like you, and yes, even the little speech issues and the echolalia and the voice cracks and everything - they’re all perfect! 

* * *

Jisung can’t help but stop to grin at Minho, and quietly murmur a “thanks” out loud, along with a little chirp at the end. This, of course, earns many coos and smiles from everyone in the room. Minho just encourages Jisung to keep reading to the last little message.

* * *

**20**

You.

I was a bit tempted to just leave it like that if I’m being honest, but that seemed a little bit too silly and like those dramas on the TV. But yeah, the best thing about you is just the fact that you are so unashamedly yourself. Just being yourself makes me happy - you are so brilliant as you are. Like wow! Jisungie you’re so so sooo strong and intelligent and interesting and all those cool things, but you’re also cute and fun and a bit of a prankster. You’re always ready to bravely stand up for me when Chan is too much, but then you’ll be all soft and sweet and give me a hug, but all the while you were probably involved in the hilarious mess that I’m even getting in trouble for in the first place. I hate it when people say all those things about me being a bad influence on you, not because of how it’s mean to me (though I gotta admit, that’s not a great feeling either), but because they always say it in a way that suggests you can’t think for yourself - which is absolute BS because you are your own absolutely wonderful person who can be amazingly independent. So you better stay true to yourself because I, and a lot of others, absolutely love you for that.

* * *

The moment Jisung finishes reading it, he doesn’t hesitate to collapse into Minho’s arms fully. He has enough tears to fill a lake but it is definitely worth it - they are happy tears after all. Minho kisses him on the forehead while pretending to not still be crying a bit as well.

The rest of the day is a whole lot livelier with plenty of games and ridiculous Christmas movies until everyone drags themselves to their respective rooms to sleep - naturally Jisung is sleeping over in Minho’s bed.

 

* * *

 

Although he’s exhausted Jisung suddenly jumps up with the sudden realisation: “Min! We forgot to name the cats!”

“Shut up Sung, ‘m trying to sleep here,” is the grumpy reply from a tired Minho however, before said tired teenager grabs Jisung and pulls him back down onto the bed for cuddles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Finally! With useless late Christmassy fluff hihi  
> Sorry it's shorter than normal but I just want to move on from this monster of fluff because it is so hard to write more than a couple of thousand words when there's no key plot points to revolve it around... I mean like,,, there are points relevant to plot, but they're more like character/relationship building or just very small hints ;)  
> I have a New Years chapter that I will hopefully just zoom through typing out and editing (absolutely no more promises though we all have clearly seen I cannot be trusted with deadlines) soon. Like this one it was supposed to be posted around the actual date, but like any normal teenager I had a horrible awful truly regrettable hangover on the morning of the 1st of January lmao  
> I've been kinda struggling with schoolwork, and headaches, and just the usual attention span and procrastination problems that make writing a long chapter hard af, but I'm not going to drop this story! Just updates may be a bit all over the place in terms of how often they are, just cos I want to actually write and edit as well as possible.
> 
> As usual feel free to scream in the comments (pls,,, i need validation,,, feed me) or my instagram @xox_nixxy_xox which you may reluctantly have... it's an art account half taken over by my cat but it's highkey anonymous so just don't judge my art Too much lol (feel free to just drop me a DM tho, I'm very chatty if you let me be take it or leave it lmao)


	8. Minho Feels Like a Rom-com Lead and he Doesn't Like it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk how clear it is before the end, but this is set during new years (which is partly why you have an update because it's barely still January and I want to be done with the festive side of things ok)

If there’s one thing Minho needs to learn, it is definitely that shopping trips are never a good idea.

Honestly though, even without the whole group (Chan, Woojin and Seungmin are all busy elsewhere) it is still an alarming mess. Six teenage boys in a public area just screams ‘disaster’. At least they still haven’t been kicked out of anywhere… yet.

This trip is in fact a major improvement on previous attempts. Not only are they at most merely getting annoyed glances for excessive noise, rather than being thrown out and banned (though that really did only happen once), but they are actually being functional and productive. Or at least they’re trying. Hyunjin has a list of places they need to go to, and a list of times that they need to finish or start certain things - there are probably a thousand other lists as well, but the point is organisation is happening.

According to the lists, which are being followed as if they are law - any other behaviour would probably result in chaos so they are trying to follow the rules properly for once in their lives - the first destination is Poundland. This is possibly the worst store because it is, in Hyunjin’s words: distraction and impulsive buying hell. While Minho doesn’t have ADHD like the younger, he still manages to get distracted and reeled in by all the cheap things that he really does not need. Like at all.

So now Minho is holding a shopping basket with three slinkies, a book on dinosaurs, and a massive toy shark. So when Jisung holds up two llama toys with that look in his eyes, you really cannot blame Minho for just spinning on his heels and walking back the way he came.

“Minnie~ Please~ We really want them!” Hyunjin calls after him, since Jisung is incapable of communicating when Minho is turned away to ignore his signing.

“No.”

“Come on, we’ll even pay for them. We’re literally in year 9 and 10, we can decide what to buy ourselves,” Hyunjin argues.

“Then go buy it,” Minho says, still walking away.

“Binnie has our money and he said no too…” Hyunjin mutters, pouting. Minho sighs and adds them to the basket. Ah, the joys of being in charge of the basket.

Luckily that selection of nonsense items seems to be everyone’s limit on how much silly stuff they are prepared to waste money on today, so Minho doesn’t have to worry about making any more attempts at responsibility. Or at least he’s spared until they reach the next shop. However, Changbin does not exactly look impressed that Hyunjin and Jisung convinced Minho and makes that clear when they get to the checkout by glaring at the whole lot of them - he really shouldn’t be surprised though, this happens every time.

According to the plan, their next stop is The Works. So more impulsive disasters basically. But can they really have the blame put on them when advertising is so manipulative? ...Okay, maybe Minho spends a few too many hours a week on media studies revision and is now questioning absolutely everything.

It doesn’t take long for there to be more truly ridiculous items to end up in the new shopping basket. Thankfully Hyunjin is in charge of the basket this time, and while that is definitely not a good idea in the slightest at least Minho is free of responsibility for now. Minho will just have to look away from all the nonsense the others come up with so he can pretend it’s not happening - if he can’t see it, he doesn’t have to deal with it.

“ _Minnie! Look! They have tangle toys!_ ” Jisung bounces over to Minho, hands moving swiftly to sign the words. A similarly excitable Hyunjin hops along behind him as well.

Minho doesn’t hesitate to follow the two round the corner of the small shop to where the tangle toys are amidst various other fidget toys and squishies. He even agrees to buying them each a couple, as well as one for himself. After all, what was he gonna do? Say no? Unlikely with the set of puppy dogs eyes and pouty lips on Jisung and Hyunjin.

“ _Oh my god, they have little duck squishies. I need one,_ ” Hyunjin is practically buzzing with excitement - to be honest he is genuinely shaking a bit from having to stay relatively still in the cramped isles of the store, compared to his usual ways of pacing and jumping and just constantly moving in general.

“ _They’re cute, let’s get a few. We can get the other animals too, see the deer and the panda? Grab them for me, please,_ ” Minho instructs, “ _Oh and that cute cat one with the sparkly eyes. Wow, I’m such a cat person, what am I doing with my life?_ ”

“ _Min, you are definitely the best to go shopping with!_ ” Hyunjin manages to sign while shaking from the giggles coming out of his mouth.

“ _Yep, way less strict than the others!_ ” Jisung doesn’t hesitate to agree, which makes sense as he is currently holding several things that are being bought for him just from a couple of cutesie doe-eyed blinks.

“ _God, please don’t remind me of the fact Chan would kill me for letting you guys do this,_ ” Minho groans, glancing down at the ridiculous and now pretty much full basket.

“ _Not my mum so his opinion doesn’t matter,_ ” Hyunjin points out, much to the amusement of all the others. After all, this is a trouble makers only shopping trip because they love destruction and mayhem. Seungmin and Woojin would definitely not be willing to mess around all that much and Chan would be weary about spending too much money.

Of course, Minho absolutely loves spending time with the others as well, especially Woojin who he’s strangely close to - maybe it’s the lovable bear-like appearance? It’s just that things are rather tense at the moment with exams all the time and Chan’s disapproval of Minho and Changbin’s behaviour reaching its peak this year.

Somehow they manage to escape the store without taking too much of a chunk out of their budgets for the shopping trip as a whole - though everyone hardly knows who’s money belongs to who at this point. Minho is pretty convinced that Hyunjin and Jisung are just combining their money and throwing it out to pay for whatever they please. Not that Minho can complain, when he and Changbin often do the same, and probably will do by the end of the day.

That being said, while they are going quite smoothly financially, there are definitely other problems. Those being the fact that they have several bags to carry, including one with the massive toy shark poking out of the top awkwardly. While most of the bags are extremely light since they’re just full of plastic toys and stuffed animals, they are extremely awkward to move around with. And don’t forget this is all in a reasonably crowded area.

 

* * *

 

“Onwards!” Hyunjin screams, with Jisung and Jeongin echoing him in mildly ominous chants.

“ _Ah, so proud of our Satanic cult babies,_ ” Changbin signs to Minho, chuckling as they walk behind the others. (It’s a necessary safety measure since the youngest of the group just love to rush off and get lost.)

Minho just sighs dramatically as if the world is ending and he just wants to hide, though his grin says otherwise. After all, for all his dramatic sighs and complaining he is genuinely enjoying himself. He may take that back however given that they are now entering Primark.

Now, Minho absolutely loves this shop. Cheap clothes that are actually decent? Hell yeah! Massive shop that’s confusing with a ton of different floors and clothing racks? Maybe not. All of the above, paired with the fact that Innie has no sense of direction, Hyunjin seems more likely to act before thinking, than think before acting, and Jisung zones out so far that he probably reaches other realms in his mind? Oh no.

Good job Minho and Changbin learnt the hard way not to have expectations already. Best policy, in Minho’s opinion, is to have neither positive or negative expectations - don’t have false hope that things could possibly go right, but also don’t try and predict what may or may not go wrong, because you can never be prepared. After all, trying to prepare extensively for unpredictable hyper teenagers’ behaviour is definitely a complete waste of time. Anyways, jokes aside they aren’t literal children and can totally be trusted to survive this… Hopefully.

Long story short, a mere 20 or so minutes later, Minho already regrets trying to rationalise the decision to enter the store. ‘They’re aged 13 and 14, they’ll be sensible enough’ he had thought. God, why had he thought that? Presently, Jisung is likely (hopefully) over by the fluffy blankets where he decided to stay while Minho and Changbin hunt down Hyunjin and Jeongin. Said idiots hopped off excitedly the moment they saw oversized hoodies. So now Minho is stuck cursing Hyunjin for always having his phone on silent.

“ _One shopping trip. Just one peaceful outing with nobody getting lost. Please,_ ” Changbin groans.

“ _You’re telling me,_ ” Minho joins the complaining, “ _I feel like I now fully understand a parent’s thoughts when their child runs off in a store. Though I bet they totally, at least deep down, feel the relief at getting a surprise break from them._ ”

Changbin smacks Minho jokingly for that last remark, but can’t help but laugh along and agree a bit.

Fortunately fate seems to be feeling kind today as it only takes a couple of minutes to bump into Jeongin on the elevator. He’s then able to help them out with finding Hyunjin, though he really is awful with directions - “he was by the hoodies” “Jeongin, there are hundreds of hoodies, which ones, hoodies aren’t directions”.

They do, amusingly, find Hyunjin right as they go back to where Jisung is. The tall boy (giraffe, Minho thinks) jumps into Changbin’s arms with no warning, letting out a stream of apologies. Changbin just hugs him back, murmuring ‘it’s alright’ and other little reassurances. After all, it’s no big deal, they just needed to get together before leaving.

Minho can’t help but notice fondly how well Changbin deals with Hyunjin, sure he’s great with everyone after years of dealing with all sorts of panic attacks and meltdowns from Minho and Jisung on top of his own anxiety problems, but he and Hyunjin have a really special and sweet connection. Pretty much everyone seems to notice it but the two of them.

 

* * *

 

Clearly praying to random deities of shopping works as the rest of their time in stores finishes up with no further incidents. They still have a bit of time until they have to think about starting to make their way back to their respective time though.  So when Jeongin spots a carousel on the other end of the outdoor area of the shopping centre all the others are quick to agree to go on it.

By the time they’re in line behind a few dozen tiny children, Minho is starting to lose his nerve a bit. Not because it’s a horrific and terrifying ride or anything… Just, those horses look a lot higher up now he’s standing right in front of them. And they move. Up and down. Minho’s shit scared of heights okay, sue him.

Jisung, as per usual, quickly notices and bumps his shoulder into Minho’s, giving him a little supportive smile at the same time.

“ _We can try and grab one of those carriage things if you want?_ ” Jisung suggests.

“ _No- I- You want to go on the horses, right?_ ” Minho would feel so so guilty if he ‘ruined’ this. Sure, he knows he’s being ridiculous by even thinking that, but he just wants Jisung to not have to compromise for him (and he will never acknowledge that he compromises for Jisung too because they’re good friends like that, it’s just natural to him at this point).

“ _Don’t really care to be honest, it’s fun enough to just be spinning around. Plus either way we get to laugh at whatever Jinnie and Innie end up doing, aren’t we?_ ” God, Jisung knows Minho way too well, it seems to take so little effort to convince him of anything. Minho concedes defeat and agrees.

Soon enough they’re all allowed onto the carousel. Hyunjin immediately grabs Changbin’s hand and drags him along as he races towards the ‘prettiest pair of horses ever, oh my lord Binnie LOOK’. Jeongin follows behind, skipping happily, but also muttering something that sounds suspiciously like ‘5th wheeling sucks ass’.

As promised, Jisung tugs Minho over to one of the cool dragon carriage seats and curls up on the corner of the bench. Minho smiles gratefully and sits down next to him, shyly keeping their hands linked. It’s only a minute or two before the ride starts going round in lazy circles.

For the most part, Minho can’t help but keep his gaze aimed at Jisung. Not that the younger notices, too busy looking wide-eyed at everything around them and their other friends in front of them. So Minho gratefully takes the chance to appreciate the gorgeous fluffy hair and pretty brown eyes and- wait, what? ‘Oh no’ Minho briefly thinks, before just filing the thoughts away in his ‘figure out later’ drawer deep inside his brain, as you do.

In front of them Hyunjin is having the time of his life. He’s daringly not holding on, instead choosing to clap happily and occasionally sign things as he excitedly rambles to Changbin who is right next to him. While the others mostly sign for Minho and Jisung, those two especially Hyunjin very much so embrace it - makes sense given the auditory problems associated with ADHD too. Minho kind of wants to ask him about it, just out of curiosity, but never really thinks of it when he actually has a chance to.

Changbin is doing major heart eyes at Hyunjin as he continues to enthusiastically mix signing and talking. Not that Minho can say much given his current situation (he may even refer to it as a predicament because he’s dramatic like that). But yes, he definitely has more ammo to tease Changbin with now; how did he never realise this was a thing? Okay Changbin has always had a soft spot for his ‘Jinnie’ but who doesn’t? Today is clearly showing that it’s a lot more than that though.

“ _They’re cute right?_ ” Jisung startles Minho out of his thoughts by tapping him before signing.

“ _Yeah, you knew about this before?_ ” Minho silently hopes that he wasn’t the only one out of the loop on this one.

“ _Had some suspicions, but not really? I so ship it though!_ ” Well that’s +1 for Minho’s awareness at least.

“ _Okay, same. But I can’t help but laugh at the fact that you had to sign ‘I boat them’ for that,_ ” Minho can’t help but giggle at the complexities of sign language when you want to use modern words and memes.

“ _Shut up! BSL hates me and doesn’t want me to express myself!_ ” This just drives both of them to laugh even more.

By the time their case of the giggles is starting to go away the ride is coming to a stop. Minho and Jisung hop down the steps, both giving Changbin and Hyunjin not so discreet winks and smirks as they pass through the gate that serves as an exit. This definitely does not help with the blushes on their faces. Maybe Minho should be scared for any future retaliation from them.

 

\-----

After all the excitement Minho is honestly quite tired, and Jisung looks so exhausted he’s going to fall asleep at any minute. Ah, the joys of social exhaustion. Even Hyunjin and Jeongin, also known as the extremely bouncy endless energy ones, are a lot quieter by now (or maybe just _for_ now).

“ _Want to get hot chocolate?_ ” Changbin suggests, seeing a nearby little street stall that seems to be selling it.

“ _Oh my god yes!!!_ ” Yep, Hyunjin’s energy is back.

“ _Cool, I’ll pay. Anyone want anything special?_ ” Changbin asks while fishing around for his money, eventually turning to Minho who seems to have acquired their mess of shared money.

“Can I have marshmallows please, Binnie?” Hyunjin adds in a pout and puppy dog eyes for good measure, as if he even needs to do anything but stand there.

“Sure, love!” Changbin leaves a blushing Hyunjin and goes to get the hot chocolates, because clearly he has no regard for Minho’s poor ears as said enthusiastic creature now clings on to him instead and screams.

Minho doesn’t hesitate to shoot Changbin a ‘look what you’ve done now’ glare when he returns. Though he can’t complain too much when he now has a nice hot drink, and Changbin’s presence is like an amazingly powerful magnet to remove clingy Hyunjin’s from poor unsuspecting Minhos. But oh lord, he is so interrogating his classmate about this as soon as possible.

Turns out as soon as possible is, however, going to have to be when school starts as everyone is going back to their own homes (or Minho’s in Jisung’s case as per usual). And there is no way Minho would choose texting over talking in person and miss seeing Changbin get all flustered, just because he’s too impatient to wait a week or so for class together. If only the two didn’t see the looks on Minho’s face and run off to their train at lightning speed before any form of interrogation can begin. Jisung also seems to be scheming similarly in regards to figuring out even more evil questions before school starts again.

 

* * *

 

Flash forward to an hour later and Minho and Jisung are, of course, happily curled up under the covers (aka a weighted blanket because it’s them) on Minho’s bed. They’re watching Bambi on Minho’s laptop - legally, for once, because they have a few quid left over from the shopping trip and Minho really hates to pirate movies when he can afford not to.

The screen is a bit tiny but it’s worth it. Even if the connection is trash and it took way too much effort to figure out how to enable the subtitles. At least they have all their other favourites on DVD still (the Bambi disk was broken when moving boxes around and Jisung was distraught at the time) so their movie marathon will be a lot easier and cheaper to set up after this first movie. Sure they could technically just watch all those others instead, but Jisung loves Bambi, and Minho is just a bit (very much, oh so much) whipped.

It’s only 5pm now so they have plenty of time until the New Year’s countdown starts. Maybe even time for a nap; they’re really tired because oh no social exhaustion is a whole bitch. Somewhere deep in his thoughts Minho vaguely remembers that they never planned what they’re doing at midnight but oh well.

All the previous years have been similar, either spending it away from each other and just sending a New Years greeting by text, or lounging around and watching movies or music shows until the countdown and fireworks begin. After all, Jisung is too young to drink (as much as he likes to argue, especially since Hyunjin started drinking, though the others would argue he’s too young too and not a great example) so they can’t get piss drunk and/or have a wild party or anything like that. Though Minho’s parents might just allow them a glass or two of champagne if they’re super lucky.

By the time it’s only ten minutes until midnight they’ve gotten through a couple more movies, and loads of music videos and youtube videos in general, including a whole load of skating videos. Now they’re just arguing over what music to put on in the background. They both know that if they click on another proper video they’ll get too focussed and miss the New Year entirely.

“ _Twice,_ ” Minho suggests.

“ _No. Absolutely not. We need something cool like Got7,_ ” Jisung immediately shuts him down just like that. Cruel.

“ _You spend way too much time around Hyunjin!_ ” Minho can’t help but whine, even if they both know it’s 100% fake because he’s a drama queen.

“ _And is that a sin when my music taste improved, while you just like girl groups?_ ” Jisung is still very much so on the attack, and apparently Minho is his prey. ‘Mind please don’t go there’ Minho then has to think after that trail of thoughts.

“ _I listen to other stuff too!_ ” Minho protests. He also throws his hands up in the air theatrically as soon as he finishes signing the sentence.

“ _Oh yes, don’t let me forget all the stuff you get from emo boy,_ ” Cackles come from Jisung as he appears proud of his insult game tonight. He’s clearly referring to Changbin, and his love of ‘dark’ things. Plus he and Minho’s emo phase and cult obsessions back when they were in year 8 were gold.

“ _I’m gonna tell him you called him that!_ ” Minho threatens.

Though it’s not particularly threatening since Changbin a) couldn’t hurt a fly b) wouldn’t be offended anyway, it’s a constant joke amongst them and c) has the biggest soft spot for Jisung only rivaled by Minho’s whipped ways, and maybe being overtaken by his newly discovered (at least by the others) _fondness_ for Hyunjin. It’s the thought that counts though… If that can even apply to threats.

“ _We’ve literally wasted so much time, just find a countdown thing,_ ” Jisung orders.

He absolutely loves to argue that since it’s not his house or laptop he doesn’t want to be the one actually taking ‘the lead’ per se. However he is perfectly content with directing others and making demands.

He also appears to be perfectly content with hogging the cats as there is now a giant fluffy mountain of fur on top of him. Apparently the door was not quite closed as within a second the army of cats that live in Minho’s house are now in this one room. Not that Minho can complain since it looks so adorable and makes him fall even more in love- wait WHAT.

Love.

What?

That was definitely not a thought he was planning to have and now his mind is just a mess of phrases along the lines of ‘what am I doing’ and ‘Jesus fuck what’. Though honestly how is he possibly at this point in their friendship (or well, something more questionable now) and only just realising it?

Outwardly however he appears perfectly fine. He leans over to steal a couple of kittens - though they won’t be for long as they grow bigger by the day - for himself. Naturally this peaceful cat cuddling won’t last for long.

“ _Hey, Minnie, you’re supposed to take a shot at midnight right?_ ” Jisung enquires.

“ _I am not letting you drink, Ji,_ ” Minho shuts that down fast.

“ _Not what I was onto,_ ” Jisung shushes him, “ _If you would let me continue… Well there’s other traditions right-_ ”

Oh, Minho does not know where this is gonna go and that’s alarming.

“ _\- So how about a kiss?_ ”

So clearly he was right to be worried. And is never going to think about love again because clearly he jinxes everything and sets himself up for pain and gay panic just by merely thinking.

“ _What? Uh… I guess, are you sure, I don’t know, are you- are you sure?_ ” Oh no he broke the Minho. And is laughing about it. Because he’s evil.

“ _Yep, it’ll be fun, just an innocent little kiss on the lips!_ ” Jisung is way too enthusiastic about this. He definitely spends way too much time around Hyunjin.

“ _Is this your first kiss?_ ” He can’t help but ask

“ _Off topic, Min, but nope. I kissed Jinnie a couple of times. It was just a friendly thing though?_ ” Jisung doesn’t even hesitate in answering.

And Minho has no good arguments or distractions left so he just agrees to the little demon’s plans since they have 15 seconds left until midnight that are rapidly disappearing.

Right as the timer reaches zero, Minho leans over and kisses Jisung. And if there’s fireworks in regards to the kiss, he would kindly like the blame that on the literal fireworks going off (because if there’s some sort of god or controller of fate they clearly like structuring Minho’s life like a rom-com, and making everything look aesthetic).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit shorter than usual because it's really such a pain to write 6-7k word chapters sometimes. But also because there aren't any flashbacks here since they normally take up 500-1000 words each (aka how I make up my word count goals lmao). 4k words is plenty anyway I think lol so yeah future chapters may be more this length because it's manageable for me.  
> But I am back!!! I wasn't even taking the piss when I said I would try to write at least one and up to three chapters on the weekend, but last minute plans happened and I was so so soooo busy. Like I hope you don't mind that this is quite low on my list of priorities when I have a social life plus school to sort out.  
> Oh and the League season started and was actually going well... Until like two hours ago when I got demoted hhhh I'm lowkey pissed because I played well but my team lost... anyways you don't want to hear about that lmao why am I not deleting this??? (because impulse control is fucked right now is the right answer)
> 
> Also,,, Changjin,,, be doing their thing here. Like, I planned for it to happen eventually anyways but it just jumped out here. Mostly because I was writing a lot of Jinnie stuff. That is also a thing that jumped out. Basically realised he's only subtly ADHD in the other chapters (aka I implied it where he's clumsy and forgetful and loud and rambles) so decided to expand on that a bit too cos he's lowkey a main character like it goes Minho>Jisung>Hyunjin>Changbin/Chan in my head. I'm actually definitely going to write a Hyunjin (/changjin because obviously) centric fic in this universe as soon as this before moving onto the next big story that is more plot based - not too much info or spoilers but the Jinnie one will be more humourous and just like about ADHD and stuff, while the next 'proper' story includes a certain missing Aussie.
> 
> It also kinda happened cos I've been talking through and figuring out my own possible (likely) ADHD recently so it's been on my mind a whole lot. Plus I learnt so much about it I actually felt I could write it in more depth without worrying about doing it wrong - seriously never write a disability or mental illness or whatever without either having it or doing your research. I totally recommend also getting someone who has it (not just knows someone with it, honestly at least with autism the family members who 'know so much' can sometimes be awful, like obviously not all but it is a Thing oof) to like look over your work for any accidental rude jokes/stereotypes etc etc kinda like an editor?? (I volunteer if any of y'all want, or just for normal editing/beta reading because I love it ok)
> 
>  
> 
> definitions:  
> Poundland - cheap store, kinda shit, very fun to go with your friends to run around finding ridiculous shit to buy, I genuinely have a toy llama from there and it's called Ji Ji because it looks like Sungie  
> The Works - higher quality poundland lmao, ok seriously though it's like an arts and crafts store technically, but is just one of Those stores with everything: books, art stuff, stationary, kids toys, random little things, etc and a whole lot of fidget toys. Seriously I cannot resist blowing all my money on squishies and tangles there.  
> Tangles - fidget toy, aka my lifesaver, tho it annoys my LSA to no end because I play with it 'instead of working' (I actually just cant do the work or stay still so might as well sort out one of those problems). Anyways hard to describe pls google if unsure.
> 
> (This was such a long note omfg sorry for making you read this if you did)


	9. Exams suck less when your bestie is the literal sun(g)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING (slight spoiler warning here I guess): FROM THE POINTS MARKED WITH * IN THE STORY  
> description of meltdown/shutdown, with a brief mention of types of self-injurious behaviour in relation to meltdowns though it doesn't actually happen + more intense anxious and negative thoughts.  
> (slightly more spoiler-y but if you need it, you need it and that is fine ok) It describes a shutdown as the one that actually happens which is a bit more internalised and emotional than a violent meltdown, so it isn't quite as in your face as the meltdown shown in previous chapters
> 
> If you need me to explain what's going on in the scene, then just ask and I'll try my best to reword it for you less graphically :D

The last few days of the Christmas holidays pass quickly and it is soon time to get back to the horrible thing that is waking up early for school. While Jisung is definitely not much of a morning person, Minho reaches whole new levels of hatred towards waking up early. He even has curtains across his bed to hide behind, which aid in blocking out the horrors of alarm clocks, stressed parents and school. 

Right at this moment he is in fact trying his best to block out all of the above as his alarm rings annoyingly and his mother continuously calls for him to get ready and come downstairs where she is presumably making breakfast for him. Both noises are way too piercing and unwelcome, thank you very much. Honestly it isn’t even that early since some deity from above is blessing them with a late start on the first day back, but Minho is still nowhere near excited for school. Okay, maybe he’s a bit eager to see his friends in person again after only texting them most of the holidays (especially ones like Chan who went away for the break) but the distinct fear of everything school related is undoubtedly holding him back from his full enthusiasm potential for the day.

Because yes, Minho is in year 11 - almost completely done with school in fact - and still gets filled with fear the moment he steps through the gates in the morning. He’s really trying not to be dramatic, or just purely hate something and he can definitely name things and people there that he is fond of. It’s just that he finds most parts of the school day exhausting and stressful and hard. After all, who wouldn’t if they have trouble with socialising and processing when school is an environment that heavily involves those two things?

Whatever Minho’s thoughts and feelings towards school though, he does have to go in at least most of the time - can’t get Disability Living Allowance without good attendance after all, and god knows he and his family appreciate that extra money coming in. So he drags himself out of bed and gets ready for school.

 

* * *

 

As he walks over to Jisung’s house so he can pick him up to walk to school together, Minho thinks about the whole situation between Hyunjin and Changbin. Getting to harass his friends about it is definitely one of the big factors in motivating him to be up on time and get out of bed without as much hassle as usual. Well, that and the cats waiting just far enough that he has to walk over to pick them up for cuddles - morning cat cuddles are top of the list of ‘things that give me the will to live’ for Minho.

But back to the ever pressing topic of this swiftly developing romance - okay, sure, he’s being dramatic but he’s a bored and stressed out student sue him - between two of Minho’s best friends. While the two are very close and always have been, Minho never really noticed when it became like this. Nobody else seems to realise apart from Jisung though… And Minho thought he was the one who was awful at understanding this stuff! (He really really hopes he has this right, both so he can have some faith in his observational skills and because he thinks they’re just so so soooo cute together.)

Minho can’t help but find himself a little silly as he thinks about this so excitedly (and a little voice in the back of his head is whispering worrisome questions like ‘aren’t you being obsessive’ and ‘you’re going to mess this up’ but he tries his best to at least ignore that) but oh well it’s the most interesting thing he’s aware of at the moment. And if he’s going to harass Changbin about it later in their shared classes, then he might as well script what to say so he can ask efficient yet non-offensive questions? That way he can get the answers he wants without any harm done… Hopefully!

Without him even realising it he reaches Jisung’s door after walking on autopilot while focussing on his thoughts. Jisung doesn’t hesitate to jump into his arms whilst letting out a mixture of squeals and chirps. Minho would be lying if he said he wasn’t incredibly endeared by this, especially when he takes note of the fact that Jisung is trying to control the pitch enough so it stays cute and doesn’t irritate Minho’s sensitive hearing. What can he say? Everyone loves a cute considerate boy so you can’t blame him for being hopelessly in love and whipped.

“ _ You excited to get back to school? _ ” Jisung asks, still bouncing a bit in joy.

“ _ I don’t know… Like mocks are out to get me and everything is loud and confusing, but then I get to see all of you and harass Bin and Jinnie, _ ” Minho answers, tilting his head slightly in thought.

“ _ True true. Like wow they’re so cute together! _ ” Jisung starts hopping excitedly again at the mention of everyone’s favourite ship. 

“ _ I know! We absolutely need to get them together- _ ” and from there, the conversation rapidly descends into scheming to get Changbin and Hyunjin together. Which is fantastically ironic given the obvious elephant in the room (or street) that is the kiss... 

Ah yes. The kiss. Which is being ignored.

But really in all seriousness, how is Minho supposed to just casually bring something like that up? Should he just say ‘oh by the way you know how we kissed? Ha, funny thing happened, I’m a little tiny bit in love with you’? Yeah, no. That does not sound like the best idea, even coming from Minho who is not exactly regarded as a brilliant example of impulse control and carefully/respectfully expressing thoughts by… well, anybody. 

It seems like Jisung is sharing these thoughts given that nothing is being said or done about it. While Minho kind of wishes he would step up and say something, he’s also a grateful scaredy-cat and he admits it… At least in his head, he will deny it for at least 2 hours to Changbin while trying to distract him with Hyunjin related teasing.

 

* * *

 

So just like that they get into school and part ways to go to their respective form rooms with no mention of The Perhaps Romantic Incident as Minho is now referring to it in his head. Luckily for Minho he doesn’t have to sit around because for once Changbin is actually early and waiting in the seat next to Minho’s.

“ _ So what’s up with you and Jinnie? _ ” He wastes no time in jumping into the interrogation.

“ _ Oh hi Bin, how are you? I’m great thanks for asking, how are you Minnie? _ ” Changbin sarcastically signs back, jokingly miffed at the lack of a socially appropriate greeting.

“ _ Yeah yeah, social rules and shit. Blah blah blah. _ ” He waves a hand dismissively before pulling his lips into a slightly suspicious smirk, “ _ Anyways, back to the point: Jinnie? _ ” 

Minho receives a dramatic and long-suffering sigh in return. Naturally this prompts him to start continuously poking Changbin until he gets the answers he wants.

“ _ Okay, okay! Stop poking me you bitch! I like Jinnie, I admit it, you happy? _ ” he huffs.

“ _ Oh very! _ ” He even flaps his hands delightedly, showing some sincerity despite the teasing nature of the conversation, “ _ He’ll be good for you, I think. You’re really cute together- oh my god are you blushing? _ ”

“ _ Shut up, _ ” Changbin complains as Minho cackles beside him.

“ _ Alright, _ ” Minho signs, definitely not shutting up, “ _ But how did it start? Like, we’ve all been friends for a while now…? _ ”

“ _ Well obviously he is all new levels of gorgeous, anyone with eyes can see that. Even if you were blind you would be able to appreciate his voice and sweet as all hell personality- _ ”

“ _ Whipped… _ ” Minho interrupts.

“ _ Do you want me to keep going or not? _ ” The look on Changbin’s face is funny to say the least.

“ _ Yes yes! Sorry, continue! _ ”

“ _ Anyways. Obviously I knew he was good looking and generally a pretty cool guy, but I kinda just started having a proper crush on him over the summer holidays. We ended up hanging out a lot throughout them, and something just kinda clicked. God, Min I’m so gone for this boy… _ ” Changbin finally gets to finish his explanation, slowly gaining a dreamy look that Minho would most certainly take the piss out of if he weren’t so happy for his friend.

Before they can continue their conversation any further the teacher arrives. Even though they’re technically being silent by signing (apart from the giggles and cackles that Minho has never been able to control - that definitely led to more than a couple of awkward situations) there is a general rule set by all the teachers that they shouldn’t sign during times when the class isn’t supposed to sign. After all, it’s unfair for some people to be allowed to be distracted and chatty. Not that they don’t a lot of the time, because they’re themselves, but it is the rules.

So Minho tries to pay attention as best as he can to the teacher explaining how this round of mock exams is going to go. Because, yes, it’s that time of the year when the poor year 11s must suffer for their future - aka do practice exams in preparation for the even worse GCSEs they have to do after their Easter holidays (which is drawing way too close, Minho does not approve). He’s torn between wanting to just get through all these exams and be free from school or wanting to just go back to being in primary school when the only thing that mattered was making sure to get ice cream every Thursday with Jisung. The majority of GCSE students would most definitely agree with this oh so understandable statement.

But clearly that is wholly impossible so here Minho is, being handed a timetable with all of his exams laid out on it neatly. He violently colour-codes them by subject with a highlighter as Changbin laughs at him - that is until he realises he’s also part of the suffering and just looks into the distance in some sort of existential crisis like state. They actually have timetables already that they were supposed to use to help structure the timing of their revision over the Christmas holidays but the school (rightfully) has no faith in them not to lose them. Minho lost his a week into the holidays so he’s grateful for his form teacher not believing in his organisational skills at all.

He doesn’t dwell on this too long since way too soon the bell is ringing for the end of class and therefore signifying he has to go to his fist lesson - or in this case, first mock exam. It’s maths. Because the universe hates him. And the school, because who the hell starts exams on the first day back? Minho’s teachers apparently.

 

* * *

 

To say exams are not Minho’s strong suit are, well, at least a half truth. Academically, as long as he’s studied appropriately for the exam, he is more than capable of passing pretty much any of the exams he has to take without a great deal of effort. So forgetting his awful procrastinating ways, he’s doing pretty well on that front. Emotionally though? Yeah that’s a bit more of a struggle. In regards to stress and anxiety, Minho is a complete wreck. Exams themself are terrifying enough, especially when they worryingly important to his future - sure, these ones are mocks but they’re the last mocks, meaning his results might just be all too scarily reflective of what he’ll get in GCSEs and he doubts he has time between now and then to patch up any last errors before the real thing.

Clearly that is way more than enough to scare the average neurotypical person whose classes and life are going pretty smoothly. But add in that Minho is autistic and has anxiety, then woah would you look at that everything is even worse. And that isn’t even including the processing difficulties and executive functioning (or lack thereof) that appear to enjoy just stomping on the whole idea of being intellectually talented, because how can you show your intelligence on paper when you can’t even get your brain to work towards reading the question properly, all words in the right order and all, and pick up the pen and structure the answer properly? No use in knowing information if you can’t show it, at least in terms of your average exam.

*****************************************************

So that’s how Minho ends up in this situation. The exam invigilator has just announced that it’s time to begin the exam, that they can turn over the paper to the actual test past the page of personal details they had to fill in which stressed Minho out enough - figuring out where to put all these candidate and centre numbers is ridiculously complicated when your mind is just screaming over and over again about vague but horrific anxious thoughts and events. But he can’t fucking turn the page. And he can’t do this exam.

Maybe, just maybe, he’ll turn the page and it’ll be fine - or not, as it seems the first question is already just confusing the hell out of him. Everything is turning round and blurring together as the panic distorts his vision and the terribly familiar foggy feeling invades his brain. And he’s put the pen down. Why did he put the pen down? There’s no way he can pick it up again now. No way to finish this exam. Fuck, he isn’t even starting it nevermind getting to the last page. He’ll be lucky to reach the third page at this rate. 

He just wants to tear his hair out. Bang his head on the desk. Bite his wrist, scratch at his eyes, kick the annoying and unsteady little exam desk over. But he doesn’t, because all these other people are here. Even if they don’t make fun of him or any other similar horrific social anxiety inducing type of thing, he’s still disturbing their exam which is so not fair - why should his meltdown ruin their work when they’re actually succeeding (and leaving him behind, his mind adds extremely unhelpfully). Deep down he knows it is in no way his fault and that these things happen, but right now he just can’t really think any clear and solid thoughts. So he plunges into a shutdown, fog obscuring logical thoughts and covering up all reason. He vaguely recognises this is going to ruin the rest of his exams for the day, but is for once glad he can’t process advanced thoughts right now so he doesn’t have to think through how this impacts negatively on his future.

Minho is snapped out of his daze by his learning support assistant carefully approaching him. Having known him since he started year 7, she is brilliant at dealing with this and him and everything and he’s distantly pretty damn thankful right now. It’s somehow both a blur and way too clear as he gets up and leaves - everything is too fast but also too slow, too real but too not there at the same time, he can’t feel or see anything but the lights and little noises still hurt like fucking hell. Stepping outside and feeling the breeze is a blessing.

He almost breaks down all over again when asked whether he wants to use this as one of his rest breaks and go back in to try again with the exam, so the LSA drops it and leads him to the SEN area at the other side of the school. The walk helps a lot, even if it’s hard at first because his limbs don’t want to work and everything is a bit painful and distressing right now, plus he can barely process where he’s going at all so he has to literally be lead by the hand. He can’t even bring himself to properly internally curse himself for what some people would see as ‘childish’ because fuck it, he really really needs it right now.

*****************************************************

When they actually reach their destination, Jisung just so happens to be up there. He’s presumably working on some homework or something but doesn’t hesitate to spring up and take over the duty of leading Minho around the place so he can drag his best friend over to the quiet area with the teddy bears. The LSAs know better than to argue with this - it helps Minho, and Jisung will just kick off as well if told to go back to work and ignore his friend.

Jisung digs around in Minho’s bag, taking out the blanket that is pretty much permanently kept there. He lays it on the floor underneath one of the higher up tables so they can curl up there. Minho also notices that the toy dog that Jisung always brings to school with him has been taken out and is being offered to him. He doesn’t hesitate to take it and hold it close to his chest while rocking back and forth a bit - not in a panicky way, but just because rocking feels so good especially when he’s this emotionally tired and just not dealing with things.

They stay there for a long while, though Minho eventually ends up lying with his head on Jisung’s lap instead. Jisung is running his fingers through Minho’s hair gently and occasionally leaning down to kiss the top of his head and chirping softly. It’s like the boy’s own little way of communication and Minho loves it, after all he has his own slightly different but comparable ways which are shown when he whistles back at Jisung’s chirping. The understanding like this is something he majorly appreciates about having someone close to him who is also autistic. And to some extent he also has that connection with other people who are neurodivergent in slightly different ways such as having ADHD like Hyunjin. 

“Lunch?” Jisung murmurs, even a single word showing the uneven tone of his voice that is rarely heard by others. Minho’s processing has returned to just a tired level, rather than a mid-shutdown nonexistent level, so he is able to roughly work out that Jisung is asking about something to do with lunch rather than just saying the word.

“ _ As in, am I going? _ ” He questions after slightly turning over onto his back to make his actions more visible, managing to sign it pretty fluently which is a good sign in terms of his communication levels when anxious. Signing upside down is weird.

Jisung hums in affirmation, so he takes a moment to think of his answer while his eyes start to lose focus staring up at the ceiling. Jisung’s face is carefully at an angle to avoid eye contact, which works for both of them: Minho isn’t great with it normally but finds it threatening and overwhelming when he’s about to have, in the middle of, or recovering from a meltdown or shutdown; Jisung finds it unbearably painful at the best of times and won’t hesitate to shriek and bolt off if someone pushes it.

“ _ Lunch is okay. If quiet. I can leave if I need to? _ ” At this point in time Minho is so thankful for BSL not requiring him to be as fluid with words and more bluntly say what he needs to, because trying for perfect grammar is beyond him right now. 

“Ye, sounds good!” Jisung agrees, still too busy playing with Minho’s hair to bother signing. Not that there’s any complaints since Minho completely, wholeheartedly loves Jisung’s voice.

“ _ Speaking? _ ” He does decide to question it a bit though, because he hopes Jisung isn’t feeling pressured to talk.

“Want to. Voice ‘s working… Kinda. Not to others though,” Jisung explains, moving one hand up to his collarbone to flap a bit while he speaks. 

His voice is noticeably only ‘kinda’ working through the hissing sound on some words and the other little speech issues that are always present. That’s most likely what he meant by ‘not to others’ as well, since Jisung has admitted to Minho he’s insecure about his voice in front of people who he didn’t know before signing 95% of the time. Not that he should be, but Minho understands since he uses signing for Jisung as a coverup for his own speaking - which doesn’t contain actual easy to hear speech issues in the way it does for Jisung, but rather tires him out so much as well as his slight troubles with grammar and word order out loud at times. Not to mention they also both struggle with processing sound in terms of sensory overload and auditory processing, so the others signing is a blessing on their ears.

 

* * *

 

Jisung holds his hand as they walk to lunch. It’s sending Minho’s heart into overdrive just a tiny bit but he enjoys it all the same. Slightly less at the teasing smirks on Hyunjin and Changbin’s faces - forget them being sweet and cute together, they’re evil little demons when they aren’t being embarrassed panicked gays around each other.

“ _ Why are you looking at them like that when you two are yourselves? _ ” Jeongin points out, voicing Minho’s thoughts. Or well signing them. 

On a side note, Jeongin actually signs so much by this point having known Minho and Jisung longer than most of the others with the exception of Chan and Seungmin. At least when hanging out with just their circle of friends, both him and Hyunjin sign as naturally as if it were their first language. They’re also pretty good at translating for Jisung when someone speaks out loud and he’s left completely confused as to what was said. Definitely one of the influences Minho has had that he’s actually proud of. But back to the point - Changjin.

“ _ I have rights and things! I can do what I want! _ ” Hyunjin tries to protest quite weakly, hands fumbling like stuttering speech with a matching blush raging across his cheeks.

“ _ Yes, exactly. Free speech and free smirks, _ ” Changbin adds, in a similar state. The others just look at them disbelievingly.

“Okay,” Minho and Jisung both say at the same time, high-fiving. The ‘couple’ glare while everyone else laughs.

“Sungie~ when will you ever speak out loud for anything but swearing and insulting me?” Changbin whines. (Jeongin quickly translates for Jisung.)

“ _ Not happening! _ ” Jisung shuts down that idea quickly.

“ _ Maybe when Changbin and Hyunjin kiss? _ ” Minho suggests.

“ _ Fight me bitch! _ ” Changbin signs, jumping up although he doesn’t really mean it.

This would result in a very childish ‘fight’ which is more just badly aimed slaps because they’re like that, but Jisung quickly shakes his head the tiniest bit to Changbin to communicate that it’s not the best plan right now given that Minho is recovering from a shutdown. (Minho might mind if it was someone else who is ‘speaking’ for him, but given that Jisung just tends to read him extremely well and then communicate in a small way to whoever in as respectful a way as possible it’s fine.) Instead they just end up giggling.

“ _ Why when me and Changbin kiss? _ ” Hyunjin asks. Minho isn’t completely sure if he’s pretending to be innocent or what but either way that’s how he sounds.

“ _ You know why, _ ” Jisung replies. Okay, fake innocence then. Jisung probably followed up on his side of the interrogating Changjin mission.

“ _ What about when you and Minho kiss? _ ” Hyunjin fires back. Minho hopes and prays this doesn’t accidentally turn into an argument.

“Oh we have!” So Jisung has no shame as he says that while he curls up on a blushing Minho’s lap.

The others start with their general dramatic behaviour including gasps and screaming. Unfortunately this is also horribly loud. Now Minho would be worried about his own hearing because god damn ouch it is hurting but poor Jisung has his face tucked into his neck and is whimpering so he focuses on hugging him closer and murmuring little words of reassurance while sneaking glares at the others who are looking guiltily in all different directions. 

Luckily Jisung seems to have just not liked the sudden noise a bit and it’s nowhere near a meltdown. Plus the topic is dropped so win-win situation. After that everything goes back to normal with Jisung staying curled up in what is apparently his favourite seat now (he even said that when teased, and mayhaps Minho died a bit in the best way possible).

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! I am here again! Sorry sorry sorry for uploading this so late, I was just busy and stressed and all that stuff heh  
> But I should get back into writing this now... No promises because any of you who have been here from the start know how that goes, but I do have a plan for every chapter until the end so there's gonna be no extra writers block delays or whatever at least, just gotta fight with my schedule lol
> 
> Definitions:  
> LSA: learning support assistant, explained more in earlier chapter(s)  
> SEN: special education needs, anything like ASD, ADHD, dyslexia, the SEN department is the group of staff plus the physical offices and area they have which is used for students having things like counselling or one-to-one stuff with their LSAs or speech and language therapists and also for anyone who needs a quiet space to calm down  
> Shutdown: some people think of them as like internalised meltdowns? which they can be, but they're also just a lot of fogginess and losing skills like processing and communication, can happen as its own thing or directly after a meltdown due to things like how tiring they are or instead of a meltdown because of factors like embarassment or trying to bottle things up  
> Sensory processing: can be problems with any sense, though this chapter refers to light and sound, basically an over or under sensitivity that can lead to things like feeling loud noises intensely in a way that causes pain; it's a big part of ASD  
> Auditory processing: (idk if I explained this before) it's like you can physically hear but the words jumble up and stuff so you can't process what they are, so similar words get mixed up or you hear things in the wrong order, basically "I know you're talking and can hear it at the right volume, pitch, etc but god knows what you're saying"  
> Disability Living Allowance (DLA): a type of benefit from the government or council or whatever that allows you to have a certain amount of money each week to accommodate for extra costs due to being disabled, whether this be equipment or not being able to work as many hours as someone who is able bodied and neurotypical, it's only for 16 and under but there's an adult version and it can be taken away if you aren't attending school (if you're interested in it more than just for a brief and shitty explanation like this, feel free to ask and I can try and go into more detail)
> 
> As always thank you for reading and feel free to ask me questions about anything you didn't understand or want to know more about! You can comment, or DM me on instagram @xox_nixxy_xox
> 
> Also thanks for 1500 hits! (at the time of posting) I don't really know what a 'good' or 'great' number is but it's amazing enough to me that there's any! So thank youuuuuu!!!! ^_^


	10. oof

Okay so, some personal shit came up including illness, school stuff and work stuff... So I wasn't able to write for this properly during the time I set aside for it (I was planning to write my other story and then this since I have more ideas for Lightning due to it being new) 

However I have started writing the chapter and will definitely have it posted by the end of the week if nothing else weird happens in my life *hopes and prays*

But yeah just didn't want to leave y'all in the dark while I disappear, especially if you don't keep up with my other stuff/social media ^_^


	11. lowkey hiatus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorryyyy

Yo, so I have exams that are really taking up my time right now so I can't really write too much + the latest chapter is really hard for me to figure out, not gonna lie. I really did mean to update way sooner, and sorry if you got excited just now oof :/ but I wanted to just properly say what's up and not leave y'all in the dark.

So basically this is lowkey on hiatus until I can really sit down and figure it out - I am going to finish it though! It just probably won't be until at least my exams are finished. I'll probably work on it at weekends but it might not be posted until around July. I also have a big oneshot thing to write as a present for someone so that's a bit of a priority oops.

I *may* post some different easier to write oneshots or whatever, most likely a hell of a lot of fluff because that's pretty simple to write... So if you want you can definitely check them out (yes, I am the supreme overlord of shameless self promo). Might even start a little collection of drabbles? If you guys want that or any other requests feel free to comment down below (pls i need interaction) and I'll see what I can do ^_^ like tbh my desperate need to please makes requests and suggestions etc etc a lot easier to write in terms of motivation that my own original ideas.

But yes, sorry again :/

TLDR: I'll try and update this and my other long fic ASAP but I hope you can be patient; feel free to hmu here or on Insta DMs (@/xox_nixxy_xox) with any requests or writing prompts!!! 


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